You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Glenn Beck welled-up during his “Restoring Courage” rally in Israel. You might be surprised to hear that there were show tunes.
Beck’s rally – a holy land follow up to his restoration of honor on the National Mall last year, took place at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and cost American supporters around $5000 a ticket to join in the festivities. There were some reports of a number of empty seats at the rally, though Glenn Beck’s site said the event sold out.
Beck himself walked out to the blowing of the Shofar, a rams horn traditionally used in Jewish religious ceremonies. There were three different prayers interspersed with his opening remarks, each representing Judaism, Christianity and Islam. “This is the throne of the Lord,” Beck said.
In case anyone had any doubt, the theme of the rally was courage — which Beck repeated a number of times during his remarks. “I stand here to tell you this today: Fear is the pathway to surrender, and to overcome fear we just need one thing. Courage. Truth and courage. It is hard to do. It is hard to find if you’re not looking,” he said.
Beck continued: “The only message that I have for Israel and the Israelis is this: My friends, do not lose hope, you must not lose confidence in yourself, you must have courage.”
“Evil is counting on us to do nothing. Evil is counting on us to be afraid. But evil has misjudged us,” he said.
“The threats are mounting and evil is growing. Darkness is falling. Far too many politicians are just too willing to look away,” Beck said in his remarks, perhaps referencing his grudge against House Speaker John Boehner and the House Ethics Committee for preventing members of Congress from attending his rally.
Beck also referenced critics of Israel who compare the treatment of the Palestinians to apartheid. He noted that following the rally, he would be flying to Capetown, South Africa to show the world “what the evil of apartheid actually looked like.”
As he began to conclude, Beck brought on the waterworks as he told the audience: “One day, your children and your grandchildren will come to you and ask you: ‘What did you do when the world was on fire?'”
But, he said, if you attended the rally “I promise you this: You will be able to look them in the eye and say I had courage.”
Beck was then played off by a rendition of “Sabbath Prayer,” from the musical Fiddler On The Roof. According to Ha’aretz, presidential candidate Herman Cain was in attendance shaking hands with attendees as they left.
