>>>
in the affairs of mankind, god is not a stranger to the children of abraham. oh,
israel
, hear the words of my mouth.
>>
oh, last word viewers, hear the words of my mouth. we're thinking of naming my new show on the weekends "hear the words of my mouth."
glenn beck
was in
israel today
, all part of a four-day event to, in his words, restore courage. during today's production meeting we had a blessed conversation asking is
glenn beck
now just a
side show
. he's sort of fallen by the wayside. there's something about this rally we decided we had to talk about. partly because, to be honest, there's tape.
>>
somebody this week said that we were going to bring chaos and mayhem, and i thought it's the
middle east
, how would you know?
>>
that was the beginning of beck's speech today, the speech this event has been leading to and one that in beck's mind, people all over the world have been waiting for. take this passage in which he quotes from the old testament book of
isaiah
.
>>
in synagogues all over the world just last week, they read the words the prophet
isaiah
, comfort, oh comfort my people, says your god. speak tenderly to
jerusalem
and to declare to her her term of hard service is over. look, look at us. look at where we are. look at what we say. we declare words of comfort. to
israel
. in
jerusalem
.
>>
call me crazy but it seems beck is saying the prophet of
isaiah
foretold beck giving a speech in
jerusalem
. the reason there's something both important and dangerous here is the alliance between the christian right and the most reactionary forces in israeli life. this week, there's
glenn beck
, right there, in the middle of all of it. joining me now,
jeremy
ben-ami, founder and president of d.c.-based pro-
israel
pro-peace
lobbying organization
.
jeremy
, what did you make of the
glenn beck
spectacle today?
>>
i think you're right, you don't know whether to laugh or to cry. on the one hand, the tape is too good, you have to run it because you have to laugh at the guy pretending to be a
modern day
prophet at the gates of
jerusalem
, but it's tragic there are those in
american jewish
life and politics in this country that thinks it's what it means to be a friend of
israel
and are ready to embrace him on his terms as he's defining a new
holy war
.
>>
the deception of
israel
has been polarizing to beck, how has it seemed to break down?
>>
you do have people on the right and on the left who have criticized him and said we should have nothing to do with him, but there are very, very strong elements on the
west bank
, people within
prime ministers
netanyahu
's own party and
glenn beck
is clearly aligned with them as well as a way of getting support for
israel
.
>>
for a long time this kind of alliance between the christian right and the right wing of
israeli politics
have sort of happened at a time when the center of israeli debate seemed to move to the right and positions have gotten more dug in. we've seen
netanyahu
saying things and people in his cabinet saying things that would have been outside the mainstream ten years earlier, at the same time very recently it does seem there has been a real uprising in
israel
against the
netanyahu
government, there's hundreds of thousands of people in street. where is israeli public opinion right now on the issue of the settlements and the issue of peace?
>>
well, the settlements have never been popular and iz rsraelis believed there would be a two-step. but their problem they never thought it could actually happen, so when
glenn beck
shows up in
jerusalem
and says i'm here to save
israel
, that this is a greater threat than bombs and bullets to
israel
is you may have a two-state solution or you have candidates running for the
presidency of the united states
on the republican line who are saying they don't believe a two-state solution is in
israel
's interest, they are way out of line with the majority, not only of israelis, but
jewish americans
who believe we got to have peace and a two-state solution.
>>
final question, slightly off topic, but do you think americans know enough about non-violent resistance and political action that happens in the
palestinian occupied territories
against the occupation?
>>
i don't think so. i think that there's an image of palestinian and arab and
muslim terrorism
, and it is the face of the
resistance movements
that are in place that the far right in this country and in
israel
wants to promote, but at the same time you have a massive movement on the
west bank
now that is non-violently been protesting for years the exact root of the wall that separates
israel
from the
west bank
and is asking now peacefully for their statehood and freedom and independence. it's in line with the arab spring and awakening and it's unlikely the movement towards independence and freedom happening in the
arab world
is going to stop in
israel
.
>>
jeremy
ben-ami, thank you for joining me tonight. you can
