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“In recent years, the extreme Israeli Right has developed an alliance with heads of the Evangelical movement, who define themselves as Christian Zionists, some of whom believe that another Holocaust of the Jews will ensure the resurrection of Jesus.”
– Editorial headline on Glenn Beck’s tour of Israel, Haaretz, August 25
Glenn Beck has come and gone. His tour of the country could probably be deemed a reasonable success, but perhaps more low-key than some expected. Certainly it did not have an electrifying impact that reverberated through Israeli society. No senior Israeli politician addressed Beck’s rallies, or made widely publicized endorsements of his staunchly pro-Israel initiative.
Beck was perhaps entitled to expect greater support from the Israeli political establishment. Indeed, as MK Einat Wilf, a self-professed left-leaning liberal atheist pointed out with grace and eloquence, one need not identify with all of Beck’s ideas or approve of all his pronouncements to acknowledge his fervent support with courteous appreciation.
Disturbingly detached from reality
Generally, local press coverage ranged from muted embarrassment to dismissive contempt to breathtaking mendacity.
As Caroline Glick ably points out, the Israeli media either grossly under-reported or gravely mis-reported events. While not totally unexpected, this unprofessional misconduct reflects a disturbing dereliction of duty on the part of mainstream journalists to their reading public, once again underscoring their willingness to subordinate professional integrity to political bias.
For whether one applauds or abhors Beck, the attempt to dismiss him “marginal” or “fringe” underscores how detached from reality the criticism of him was. Love him or loathe him, no one can deny that Beck is a hugely influential and admired figure in the US – a fact born out by poll after poll.
To brand him “anti-Semitic” for his outspoken support of the Jewish state is as delusional as it is malevolent…
A dramatic eclipse of common sense
Of course in the deluded malice department, it is difficult to outdo Haaretz. After publishing almost daily tirades invective against Beck during his tour, the paper decided to sum up his visit with an editorial slur, castigating him for having the temerity “to speak ill of US President Barack Obama and to challenge his leadership” – a incongruous position for a newspaper that has made lambasting its own prime minister its professional hallmark. In a journalistic sleight of hand, its headline casts collective aspersions – unsubstantiated throughout the rest of the piece – on all Israelis who do not dissociate themselves from Beck, implying that this brackets them with “the extreme right,” and that Christian Zionist allies of Israel are “lunatics.”
But Haaretz can hardly claim to be the standard-bearer for mental health. Indeed, just how much the paper has lost its grasp on reason is reflected in the editorial’s closing paragraph.
In a dramatic eclipse of common sense by political correctness, it chides Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s for allowing Beck’s pro-Israel event to take place and for barring anti-Israel activists – the same folk who couldn’t make it to Gaza with this year’s foiled flotilla – from entering the country to express their “support for the Palestinians’ struggle.”
The reason for Haaretz’s chagrin? Beck’s “support event in Jerusalem was no less provocative” than the “activists’” planned anti-Israel protests. No kidding! You couldn’t make this stuff up!
Totally oblivious to any distinction between friend and foe, the quasi-official mouthpiece of the self-appointed “enlightened” Left showed itself incapable of differentiating amity from enmity. One is left to wonder whether Haaretz would prefer Beck and his sizable following to transfer their support to the anti-Israel camp. But then for Haaretz being anti-Israel is no different than being pro-Israel.
Symptoms of collective psychosis
Despite all this mean-spirited depreciation – perhaps partially because of it – Beck’s visit generated a hugely important by-product.
The reaction to his overtly pro-Israel enterprise exposed in the most blatant manner the psychotic nature of the Israeli Left as a socio-political collective, that demented segment of society that masquerades as the nation’s “intellectual elite.”
Psychotic? Demented? Strong words, perhaps, but the diagnosis is both appropriate and demonstrably verifiable. Indeed, were a private individual to exhibit the behavioral patterns characteristic of the so-called intelligentsia of the Left, he would undoubtedly be certified for serious mental disorder and declared a danger to himself and his surroundings.
Consider the following widely accepted definitions of psychiatric concepts:
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• Psychosis: Mental illness involving gross disorder of perception…which causes the subject to lose touch with external reality.
• Psychotic symptom: A symptom which causes a misinterpretation of reality, typically hallucinations; delusional belief.
• Hallucination: A perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus to the sense organs.
• Delusion: A belief that is firmly held despite compelling evidence to the contrary.
Little effort is required to identify a remarkably close correlation between the collective behavior of the Israeli Left and these symptoms. It would take a very thick tome to document all cases, so we confine ourselves to representative examples.
A belief firmly held despite compelling evidence to the contrary
Let’s start with “losing touch with reality.”
The Israeli Left has been in denial for more than a decade. With their entire worldview in shattered ruins, they still refuse to acknowledge error.
Their ideological flagship, the Oslo process, which set sail for a “New Middle East,” has long-floundered on the rocks of Mideast realities. Without exception, all the dangers its opponents warned of have materialized, but not one of the benefits its proponents promised.
Thousands – Israelis and Palestinians – have paid with life and limb to indulge pursuit of this dangerous delusion. Still the Israeli Left refuses to recant, withdrawing from reality and persisting in “a belief… firmly held despite compelling evidence to the contrary.”
Indeed, contention after left-wing contention has proved hallucinatory in the sense that they were founded on nothing other than wishful thinking:
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• The wild fantasy of an EU-like “New Middle East” stretching from Casablanca to Kuwait.
• The bizarre assessment of the preeminently corrupt archterrorist Yasser Arafat as a credible peace partner.
• The preposterous perception of murderous Bashar Assad as a cultured, trustworthy ruler who could be relied on to honor a deal on the Golan (how nutty does that look today?) These were all pure figments of feverish left-wing imagination, devoid of any anchor in reality. They were conceived, promoted and pursued although they clearly flew in the face of known facts and prevailing evidence.
Rejecting love, embracing hate
Perverse people, the Israeli Left. It would seem that they are more comfortable being hated and despised than being loved and admired.
Thus while they fulminate against Zionist Christians, and urge that Israelis dissociate themselves from them, hinting darkly that “some” (but implying “all”) harbor a latent anti- Semitic agenda, they nevertheless endorse engaging the Palestinians whose Judeophobic agenda is overt and active.
Indeed the diatribes and the graphic imagery in official Palestinian media are reminiscent of the Nazis’ Der Stürmer, but leave the Israeli Left strangely unperturbed.
While they issue dire warnings that the Zionist Christians may secretly wish the annihilation of the Jews at the end of days, they seem to have no problem advocating contacts with the Islamist extremists who openly advocate the annihilation of Jews today – as precondition for the advent of the Day of Redemption. Not only does the Hamas Charter exhort Muslims to slaughter Jews down to the very last one, but the allegedly “pragmatic” Fatah calls for the complete demolition of the Zionist entity in its Constitution… It doesn’t get more anti-Semitic than that. But the Israeli Left ignores this with unnerving equanimity.
Embracing the ‘other’ – sort of
The Israeli Left prides itself on its openness and acceptance of the “other.” However, this professed tolerance has a perverse way of manifesting itself and seems subject to curious limitations.
Thus one finds that the Left seems more comfortable with people who endorse – or at least condone – “honor killing,” than with people who oppose abortion.
While they seem to have no problem with Judeocidal Muslims and inimical boycott, divestment and sanctions-promoting Christians, left-wing tolerance of the “other” abruptly evaporates when it comes to ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jewish “settlers”… or pro-Israel Evangelical Christians.
They are demonized as the cause of all evil – be it provoking Palestinian terror, inducing the high cost of housing, delaying the advent of regional peace or hastening that of Armageddon.
The twin pillars of doctrinal dogma
A comprehensive compilation of the psychotic-like behavior patterns of the Israeli Left would extend well beyond the limitations of a single article. Suffice to say that society would not tolerate them in an individual. It should not tolerate them in a collective.
The Left has abused its unelected positions of power and privilege in the legal establishment, the media and academe, leading the nation astray and imposing on the elected polity a delusion dogma that rests on twin doctrinal pillars:
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• Credo quia absurdum est – I believe it because it is absurd.
• Falastin über alles – Palestine above all else.
Not convinced? Imagine how Glenn Beck would have been received with open left-wing arms – whatever his alleged views on the coming of the Messiah – had he enthusiastically endorsed Palestinian statehood and a divided Jerusalem.
This is a doctrine that has wrought untold harm on the nation. The people promoting it must be challenged and driven from their positions of dominance in the Israeli establishment; their stranglehold over the institutions of law, the press and the universities must be pried loose.
A real reason for revolution
In this season of social awareness, this should be the real target for public anger. The detrimental, dysfunctional and largely disloyal role the Israel Left has played over the past two decades is a far more appropriate target at which public outrage should be directed. It is to this end that energies should be channeled – certainly far more than to the demand for cheaper cheese.
If the hysterical, incoherent and hypocritical reaction to Glenn Beck’s visit helped underline this, he will have done the country a great service.
@ James B from Canada:
James B from Canada Said:
Besides the present occupant of the WH, Jews supported Clinton, Carter, didn’t support Reagan or either Bush. All had essentially the same policies re: Israel. Therefore from a strictly American Israel perspective why is Obama selected for special place in hell by his pro Israel opponents? OUR PROBLEM IS MORE THE SHORTCOMINGS OF ISRAELI LEADERS THAN AMERICAS.
I completely agree with the idea that the left is mentally unstable. They are smug and insulting.
The left has ruined Israel and the West.
The only good thing is that they are not having that many children so their ideas will be buried with them.
I listen to Glenn Beck and I like him very much.
In Canada, we have a few righties in a sea of demented israel hating lefties. But this is what the public wants.
I refer to Jewish elites as ” ash kan nazis” a play on the word ashkenasi. But it is so a propos.
They support the muslim in the white house and all of israel’s land give always and view the heroic settlers as villains.
Bert Said:
Yes, the smugness of the elites, looking down their noses at the religious and yet it’s the knowitall secular elites that are financially and morally bankrupting whole nations.
Here they go referencing their lack of understanding of the concept of “The Remnant”. Actually, the theory is many will die, not just Jews, but the remaining will be The Remnant or essentially an elite cadre, if you will. The anti-Christ is believed to be the one who will provide the new holocaust.
Christian Zionists, actually subscribe to Jewish supremacy(how else does one account for the inordinate number of Jewish Nobel prize winners?). They believe Jewish destiny will be quite different from the rest of the world’s.
My biggest concern, personally, is Israel retaining her land inheritance and her ability to just say no to the globalist agenda. If this requires Israel standing up to Europe and the United States even, then so be it. I still believe Israel should be as ethical and humane as possible, but when it comes to asserting her independence and right to defend herself and her people she should not bend to the desire of outside entities that have ulterior motives and seek to benefit themselves at Israel’s expense. Israel should not accomodate those that seek Israel’s submission and/or destruction.
Maybe it will be a holocaust of the Christians which will sift out good from evil.
I completely agree with the idea that the left is mentally unstable. To our horror and detriment, these are the people that have been allowed to take the reigns of power not only in Israel, but in America and throughout the western world. Without the complicity of the western left, the global jihad would not be advancing as it is.
@ Bert:
Do not get equal with one who has done you wrong, or keep hard feelings against the children of your people, but have love for your neighbor as for yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus, 19:18)
And if your brother becomes poor and is not able to make a living, then you are to help him to survive, helping him and also a proselyte from foreign land who is living among you. (Leviticus, 25:35)
You must repeatedly give him ( your brother) and let not your heart to feel bad when you give him because of this your deed, Hashem your God will bless you in all your work and in all the labor of your hands. (Deuteronomy 15:10)
Truth and justice are not always reflected in popular polls. Judaism itself is very much a minority view that is often despised and ridiculed even by the secular Jewish elites with advanced degrees and who hold positions of power.
The dominant elites always react with anger and hatred when anyone challenges their falsehoods. In Moses time the heads of the tribes, the elites of that time, also tried to get rid of him and grab power for themselves. It is a moral obligation of Jews to think for ourselves and follow the teachings of our Torah. And we must stand strong against the evil in our midst.
My comment just posted, vanished.
As one who watched the Beck show on Fox a few times a week over the course of about 6 months, I can say that Beck is not the extreme right winger that he is painted by the liberal-left media. Neither is Palin, Bachman, Perry or the Tea Party that also have been so portrayed.
In politics, perception however, often is the substitute for reality and a dangerously misleading one at that.
If the label right wing were synonymous with the label conservative, it would be fair of the Liberal-left in the States to call Beck and the other aforementioned, right wing.
The labels however, are not synonymous. In the battles over labels in the U.S., “right wing” has taken on a very pejorative connotation. The label conservative is rarely used by the liberal-left media.
This negative connotation also colors discussion and debate in Israel.
If one pays careful attention to the nature of these sustained high energy tactics employed by the liberal-left in advocating their views, they almost always do so, by devoting time to engaging in malicious broadside and generalized ad hominem attacks, filled with accusations of right wingism. There is however, little if any reasoned substance to those attacks as the liberal-left vents their angst at those they disagree with, regardless of where those people are on the political spectrum to the right of them.
Conservatives and those to the right of them, do for their part hurl epithets at the liberal-left, such as left wing loons, socialists, advocates for the nanny state, etc.
The liberal-left however have proven far more adept at hurling more shit at the wall than the conservative-right and getting more of their liberal-left shit to stick.
The conservative – right, be it in the U.S. or Israel, might take a page out of the liberal-left tactical/strategy game plan if they really expect to win back a level playing field where ad hominem attacks and character assassination are dealt out of political discourse and the liberal-left and the conservative – right are both forced to deal with the issues based on all relevant facts and applied logic and reason.
My problem with Sherman’s article is he uses Haaretz as his prime example of Israeli opinion. Independent market research firm TGI survey examines period between July 2010 to June 2011 and determines that Israel Hayom was read by 38.2 percent of the public during that time frame •
Ha’aretz drops by 15% to 5.8% market share. about 24.000 circulation average.
The influence of Haaretz is who are their readership (Israeli Elites), but they certainly do not reflect the average Israelis POV on almost anything political.
Despite its relatively low circulation in Israel, Haaretz is considered Israel’s most influential daily newspaper. Its readership includes Israel’s intelligentsia and its political and economic elites. Surveys show that Haaretz readership has a higher-than-average education, income, and wealth; most are Ashkenazim. Shmuel Rosner, the newspaper’s former U.S. correspondent, told The Nation, “people who read it are better educated and more sophisticated than most, but the rest of the country doesn’t know it exists.
He touted Glenn Beck as:
What polls?
His Ratings dropped precipitously, from 2.9 million viewers in January 2010 to 1.8 million in January 2011. Many of those viewers were from younger demographics, according to PoliticsUSA. 400 Fox advertisers saying they didn’t want their commercials on Beck’s show, according to Forbes. That cost Fox News owner News Corp. a cool $600,000 a week.
I’m not saying Beck does not have a substantial following but it’s so far removed from mainstream America, that he would have to be considered quite on the fringe. His rally’s in Israel were more noted for who didn’t attend than those who did. Since Becks following comes from the more extreme side of the American political right how does his support enhance Israels image among all the rest? I could speculate that his support might have the opposite effect than the one no one on this site seems to take into account.
Substitute any American left-wing zeitgeist in place of “Palestine” (or not), and this article equally applies to the American left.