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Restoring Courage tour
DateAugust 24, 2011
LocationMain event: Temple Mount Western Wall / Safra Square
Jerusalem

Viewing parties in more than 60 countries.[1]
WebsiteGlennBeck.com/Israel

Restoring Courage was a campaign announced on May 2011 by media personality Glenn Beck featuring a media event that took place in Jerusalem, on August 24, 2011, "to stand with the Jewish people". While announcing the rally, he expressed a belief that a two-state solution would "[cut] off Jerusalem, the Old City, to the rest of the world".[2][3] Beck said security arrangements and logistics would pose a challenge: "The very gates of hell will open up against us."[4] Beck's Mercury Radio Arts sponsored three rallies or observances associated with Restoring Courage, including a rally attended by hundreds of supporters on August 24 at the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount.[5][6]

Events

During the lead-up to the tour, on June 27, 2011, Beck was invited to address the Knesset Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee on July 11, 2011. Beck was asked to advise members on how to counter delegitimization of Israel. Beck's scheduler, Jonny Daniels, said that Beck's address would be filmed for his online show, he would visit historical sites all over Israel sacred to Jews and Christians, and he would also visit Tamar Fogel, whose parents and three siblings were killed in the Itamar attack.[7]

The ecumenical gathering "The Courage to Love" was held as part of the campaign on August 21, 2011, before an audience of 3,000 people attended the event at the Caesarea amphitheater, with the event broadcast to over a thousand churches, mostly in the United States. Gospel singer Vernessa Mitchell headlined the musical portion, accompanied and supplemented by various Israeli singers and musicians. Along with Beck, speakers included evangelical minister and amateur historian David Barton, Efrat founder Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, author Mike Evans, Christians United for Israel – founder Pastor John Hagee, Florida megachurch pastor Tom Mullins, and American-born Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert.[8][9][10]

An observance in remembrance of the Holocaust titled "Courage to Remember" took place in the Old Train Station Plaza in Jerusalem August 22, 2011. It featured an invocation by Rabbi Moshe Rothchild, remarks by Beck, actor and activist Jon Voight, the screening of the documentary film Kleiner Rudy by Michelle Stein Teer about her grandfather, Holocaust survivor Rudy Wolff and personal family memoirs, a short documentary about a solemn tour by Beck and his wife Tania of Auschwitz, and a panel discussion including Beck, Rabbi David Greenblatt of United With Israel, David Brog of Christians United for Israel, and author Mike Evans.[11][12][13] The program ended with a candle-passing ceremony among Rudy Wolff's descendants, accompanied by the young tenor Benjamin P. Wenzelberg of New York's The Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, followed by stadium fireworks.[14]

A comparatively more impromptu event during Beck's tour was the dinner he hosted the evening of August 23, 2011, at Jerusalem's Bible Lands Museum. At his speech there, Beck said:

We have spent 2,000 years at each other's throats, mainly us at your throat. It is time to stand and say, 'Enough.' It is time to return home to His throne and beg His forgiveness and tell him unequivocally we will knock it off, we will stand arm in arm. The times require it; it is not a human rights movement, it is a human responsibility movement. If we do not recognize our responsibilities, we have no rights. This is the beginning, there is no end until we all live in peace and we all respect the Jewish people and their rights to live here in peace.[15]

Performing at "Courage to Stand" on August 24 before an audience of about 1,700 near the Western Wall (with another 2,000 watching a broadcast on a large screen at the overflow venue of Jerusalem's Safra Square)[16] were cantor and singer Dudu Fisher and choirmaster and conductor Meir Briskman.[17] Along with the performance of the Israeli national anthem "Hatikva," a blessing by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, a letter from Muslim Sheikh Abdel-Khaer Jabari of Hebron (read by David Brog), were speeches by Shmuel Rabinovitch, rabbi of the holy sites in Israel, Mayor Nir Barkat of Jerusalem, and Member of the Knesset Danny Danon (Likud), as well as a keynote speech by Beck; and Mathew Staver, Dean of Liberty University School of Law, introduced and presented the event's designated Faith, Hope, and Charity Awards to respective honorees: the Fogel family (victims of the attack on Itamar; presented posthumously and accepted by the mayor of Itamar on their behalf), Jewish-and-Arab co-owners of the suicide-bombed Maxim restaurant of Haifa, and philanthropist Rami Levy.[18][19][20][21]

Reactions

Several dozen individuals rallied in a counter-protest near the venue of the August 24 event, organized by the Israeli activist organization Peace Now, declaring that Beck's campaign and its location were ill-advised or inappropriate. Their chants for Beck to go home, etc., could be heard during Beck's rally on that day.[9][22] A small pro-Beck demonstration was also situated nearby, at which was sung the Israeli national anthem.[23][24]

Before the main rally, American commentator (and appellate defense attorney) Alan Dershowitz said that he would wait to hear Beck's statements in Israel before offering an evaluation – also saying, "I disagree with much of Beck's politics and with virtually all of his conspiracy theorizing. Yet I admire his courage in putting his body in the line of fire. I believe him when he says: 'If the world goes down the road of dehumanizing Jews again, "then count me a Jew and come for me first.'"[25] Influential rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, Israeli settler activist Moshe Feiglin and Dov Lior, rabbi of Kiryat Arba, opposed the rally as a harbinger of Christian missionary zeal within the Jewish homeland.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hoffman, Gil (August 24, 2011), Beck vows to defend Israel against UN, NGOs, Jerusalem Post
  2. ^ Kim, Mallie Jane (May 18, 2011). "Will Glenn Beck's Israel Rally Hurt U.S. Foreign Policy?". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
  3. ^ Horn, Jordana (May 18, 2011). "Glenn Beck heading to Israel again – for summer rally". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
  4. ^ Gelles, David (May 17, 2011). "Glenn Beck plans Jerusalem rally to back Israel". Financial Times. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
  5. ^ MacNicol, Glynnis (May 20, 2011). "It Will Cost You $5000 To See Glenn Beck In Israel". Business Insider.
  6. ^ Kershner, Isabel (August 24, 2011). "At Temple Mount, Glenn Beck Draws Crowd of Hundreds". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Glenn Beck to address Knesset panel in July
  8. ^ Miller, Sara (August 22, 2011), Glenn Beck in Caesarea: Singing, praying, love for Israel and more than a few tears, Haaretz
  9. ^ a b Hartman, Ben (August 22, 2011), Glenn Beck's Ambivalent Welcome in Israel, The Atlantic
  10. ^ Restoring Courage Recap Part 1, GlennBeck.com, August 21, 2011
  11. ^ Baker, Scott (August 22, 2011), 'Courage to Remember': Beck Hosts Jerusalem Program Focusing on the Halocaust, The Blaze
  12. ^ Hoffman, Gil (August 22, 2011), Jon Voight compares Palestinian terrorists to Nazis, The Jerusalem Post
  13. ^ "Glenn Beck to visit Auschwitz for live show", Hal Boyd. Deseret News. June 9, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2011
  14. ^ Restoring Courage Recap Part 3, GlennBeck.com, August 22, 2011
  15. ^ Pollak, Eli; Medad, Yisrael (Israel's Media Watch) (August 24, 2011), Media Comment: The anti-Beck crusade, Jerusalem Post
  16. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (August 24, 2011), Glenn Beck tells Jerusalem: 'Evil is growing. Darkness is falling', London: The Guardian
  17. ^ Tarnopoldky, Noga (August 25, 2011), Glenn Beck, the Israeli edition, Salon magazine
  18. ^ Hoffman, Gil (August 24, 2011), Beck vows to take on UN, rights groups to defend Israel, Jerusalem Post
  19. ^ Miller, Sara; Berthelsen, Morten (August 24, 2011), Live blog: Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Courage' rally in East Jerusalem, Haaretz
  20. ^ Restoring Courage Recap 4 with Highlights from GBTV!, GlennBeck.com
  21. ^ Heller, Jeffrey (August 24, 2011), Glenn Beck rallies for Israel near Jerusalem holy sites, Reuters
  22. ^ Hartman, Ben (August 24, 2011), J'lem: Peace Now tells Glenn Beck 'Go Home!', Jerusalem Post
  23. ^ Baker, Scott (August 24, 2011), 'Nonsense': Pro-Beck Jewish Academic Makes Forceful Stand Against Hostile Questions Outside 'Restoring Courage' Event, The Blaze
  24. ^ Ephron, Dan (August 21, 2011), Beck's Holy Land Crusade, The Daily Beast
  25. ^ Dershowitz, Alan (August 22, 2011), Should Israel Welcome Glenn Beck's Support?, Huffington Post
  26. ^ Jeffay, Nathan (September 1, 2011), Glenn Beck's Israel mission has backfired, The Jewish Chronicle Online
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