IDF Radio debate on Glenn Beck and Israel, with MKs Nachman Shai and Danny Danon

Ma Boer, IDF Radio, August 16 10:00am Razi Barkai [host]: And now about Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck is a very famous radio announcer from the US. Apparently a very charismatic person whose opinions are, how should I put this, controversial. He came to Israel a few days ago, opened his mouth and has already uttered a few gems. Glenn Beck: 200,000 people on the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding change in Tel Aviv and standing against Benjamin Netanyahu. Who are these people? They have a list of demands, they are obviously from the hard left. They want to enshrine the right to housing in the law. XX: there you go, that's a good idea. It worked out well for the Soviets. RB: So, in his broadcast from Israel he said that these are of course leftists, hard leftists, then they talked about the Soviet Union and all kinds of talk, bottom line, Glenn is more right wing than Bibi. And this comes after a much worse comment he made when he was still in the US, after the massacre in Norway, Glenn Beck said the following: he said that the youth camp of the Labor Party, where the massacre was carried out by that crazy right winger, that camp reminded him of Hitler Youth camps. We did not touch that. That is what he said. Knesset Member Nachman Shai of Kadima, hello. NS: Hello. And hello to you MK Danny Danon of Likud. DD: Hello Razi. Good morning. RB: Listen Danny. We really like pro-Israeli people but why do we always have to find this kind of people? He has said completely unacceptable things. DD: Razi, you chose two certainly problematic comments, but Glenn Beck broadcasts every single day for two hours. He was on Fox News until two months ago and since then he has been broadcasting on his own independent network on the Internet and the radio to tens of millions of people and you see that this leader, a public figure in the US, supports the State of Israel. Look what happened after the murder in Itamar. Nobody in the world talked about it because there was the tsunami in Japan. Everybody boycotted the murder in Itamar and he devoted a two-hour program only to that subject. RB: Danny, the guy, who says that a youth camp for kids, you know what? They are the same as the kids that go to our Noar Haoved youth movement or the Scouts or Mahanot Haolim or you know what? Likud youth. They go to summer camp and he calls him Hitler
Page 1 of 4

youth? You know what? Forget about all of his pro-Israeli programs, and he did have those. This is an unacceptable thing to say. Simply unacceptable. DD: Yes, he has made problematic comments and let me tell you a secret. He is going to make problematic comments in the future also. But let's look at what he does for Israel. I have hosted a number of figures from the Republican Party in the last year. Sarah Palin, Gov. Huckabee, next week we are going to have Herman Cain, a presidential candidate of the Republican Party. If I were to analyze every comment by Sarah Palin or by Mike Huckabee or Glenn Beck then all of those supporters of Israel I would have to say to them, sorry, don't help us. Next Wednesday thousands of people are gathering in Jerusalem, dozens of Congress people coming from the US including Sen. Joe Lieberman who is not from the Republican Party, to support Israel, all under the leadership of Glenn Beck. RB: Will they broadcast from here, from Israel? DD: Definitely. RB: Okay Danny, stay on the line. Nachman, you heard what he said. Sometimes people on the left also say pretty ugly things, but he is still a good friend of ours. NS: Listen, I want to adopt the famous socialist slogan. Lunatics of the world unite. That is apparently what Danny Danon does. He collects people, whose opinions are important in themselves, attaches them to us and thinks this will make their record forgotten and the political place where they stand. We are talking about the most radical right in the United States. RB: Does this man do more harm to Israel than good? NS: Of course! Of course! This man, whom even Fox Network, a conservative, Republican right-wing network, ejected, canceled his program after it learned that this man, even in the American holy of holies, the ratings, he was going down. So what else could he do for them? And why did he go down? Because he did the craziest things. RB: Actions or talk? NS: He accused he also acted. A held big rally, like the one he is going to hold in Jerusalem, in the middle of Washington D.C. RB: And whom did he accuse of what? NS: He accused Obama of hating white people and he attacked him in language he always uses Nazi terminology. Apparently he fell in love with the Nazi narrative and that is why he accused those unfortunate children in Norway of membership in a Nazi youth movement of that kind DD: If I were to analyze comments by members of J Street who you associate with

Page 2 of 4

NS: Leave J Street out of this DD: I could give you some terrible quotes about Israel NS: What are you bringing up J Street for? What do they have to do with this? 400 Reform rabbis wrote to Rupert Murdoch that this man makes anti-Semitic comments. Anti-Semitic. The Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith, a Jewish organization at the center of the mainstream, attacked Glenn Beck and said his comments are not only insulting but also frightening and terrifying. NS: Let's hear Danny Danon's response. DD: I am listening carefully but there is something that it may be hard for you to understand. In the United States there are about 300 million people. They don't all agree with you. At least half of them don't agree with your opinions. At least half of them say we support Israel and we don't want you to give up parts of your homeland and surrender to the Turks and the Palestinians and the whole world, we support you, the dozens of congressmen who are in Israel now, from the Democratic and Republican parties who are coming to the event next week are not lunatics. They are people who love Israel and every time we find somebody who supports Israel and says what they think courageously, you say don't work with them. Menachem Begin, who was criticized for working with the evangelists in the same style that you are criticizing me now, said in the 1980s that anyone who reaches out their hand and wants to help the Jewish people, I will work with them and that is what I am doing today. RB: Okay. Give me a concluding word Nachman Shai. NS: Listen, I was there when Begin said what he said. That was fine. He did not reject any extended hand and I do not reject any extended hand either. But there are people who exploit the Israel issue to promote their own interests, their own business. I suggest to you Danny to check carefully who these people are that you are so enamored of, whose friendship you seek so ardently. They do not represent the majority in America. They represent the margins. I must tell you, do not associate with them. Just like you I am willing to look for any shred of friendship towards Israel anywhere in the world including in the United States and I do not reject that. But I am telling you that the damage that is caused by these people is greater than the benefit. Do not position yourself with them because I think just like you that we had to equip ourselves and we had to attack, on the subject of Itamar and so on RB: Ok gentlemen NS: But when it comes from that direction it does not help us DD: They said that President Bush too was crazy and radical and he became the President of the United States NS: They did not say about Bush that he was crazy and radical

Page 3 of 4

RB: Thank you to both of you.

Page 4 of 4