Peace Now rally calls on Glenn Beck to ‘go home!’

About three dozen activists hold protest outside rally organized by American broadcaster, hold signs saying “Peace Takes Courage.”

By BEN HARTMAN
Peace Now protest at Gelnn Beck rally 311 (photo credit: Ben Hartman)
Peace Now protest at Gelnn Beck rally 311
(photo credit: Ben Hartman)
About three dozen activists from Peace Now held a protest outside the Glenn Beck rally in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday, where they called for the American broadcaster to leave Israel and take his message elsewhere.
Holding signs saying “Go Beck Home,” “Peace Takes Courage,” and “Glenn, take your hate Beck,” they gathered outside the Dung Gate in Jerusalem, a few dozen meters from where Beck was holding the last of his three “Restoring Courage” rallies in Israel.
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Jerusalemite Danielle Blumenstyk, 25, said that she came to the protest because “we think Glenn Beck is a racist and an extremist. He claims to be a friend of Israel but he is only causing more and more damage to Israel’s image in the world.”
She said that Israel “is unfortunately so unpopular in the world right now that the second someone says they like us we’re quick to say he’s our friend. But he’s [Beck] not our friend, he’s a lunatic.”
Blumenstyk claimed that a few minutes earlier she was accosted by Israel Beitenu MK Anastasia Michaeli, who tried to snatch her megaphone out of her hands. Blumenstyk said she is considering issuing a police complaint.
Another protester, David Schonberg of Jerusalem, said “I am here as a right-wing, religious, moderate Israeli man. I don’t agree with anything about Peace Now’s politics, but Jews have to understand that extremist Christian fundamentalists like Glenn Beck pose a threat to American Jews and the pluralistic American way of life in which Jews thrive.”
Schonberg, originally from London, added, “He should leave, we have enough meshuggenah [crazy] people here.”
Etai Mizrav, national activities coordinator for Peace Now expressed what he described as “this embarrassing situation where the Israeli rightwing is giving Beck this warm embrace.”