Thursday, August 25, 2011

At Least Rami Levy Got A Mention


Finally, a Glenn Beck story that might even please my wife:

At Temple Mount, Glenn Beck Draws Crowd of Hundreds

Sounding more preacher than commentator, the American conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck held a rally on Wednesday by a hotly contested holy site here and proclaimed the beginning of a global movement to support Israel, putting its Muslim opponents on notice.

The location of the rally — at the foot of the Temple Mount compound, which Jews revere as the site of their ancient temples and which now houses the Aksa mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam — lent a cosmic air to the event.

...The event sharpened the debate surrounding Mr. Beck’s visit, which has roiled liberal Jews in Israel and abroad and has divided those Israelis who have heard of him into two camps, passionate defenders and equally passionate detractors.

...“I do not agree with everything he has said or will say in the future,” said Danny Danon, a member of Parliament from the conservative Likud Party who helped arrange for Mr. Beck’s tour. Even so, he said, Mr. Beck “is a true friend of Israel.”  David Ha’Ivri, a spokesman for Jewish settlers in the northern part of the West Bank, known here by its biblical name of Samaria, added, “Israel is in need of alliances and friends who appreciate the mission of the Jewish people.”

...As he did at a rally he led in Washington last year, Mr. Beck gave out awards at his Jerusalem rally. One went to the settlement of Itamar and the Fogel children who survived a horrific Palestinian attack on their home in March that killed their parents and three siblings.

More incongruously, another went to the Israeli supermarket magnate Rami Levi. The commentary accompanying the award said that Mr. Levi was charitable and that his stores, built to serve West Bank settlement blocks [blocs?], have become havens of Jewish-Arab shopping coexistence. To most Israelis, though, Mr. Levi’s nationwide chain is known for cut-price chickens.

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