Dakota Beacon

I went to hear Glenn Beck last evening.  He was in Grand Forks to fill in for an event scheduled with Charlie Kirk.  I was looking forward to a hard-hitting debate sort of event.  It turned out to be something different.

After an endless line waiting to get in, after being assaulted by obnoxious, ear-splitting “music”(?) once in our seats, we had a moment to appreciate that it was a packed house.  And most of those present were supporters of Kirk.  We had 15 minutes to listen to some CEO.  Then we had to give a half hour of our lives to hear a comedian there to “warm up the house”.  (It didn’t really need it.)  And finally Glenn Beck came on stage.  His signature blackboard was there with him and displayed several names for the homily he gave - one of the world’s longest - outlining his journey to find Christ and to eschew the lifestyle he said was destroying him until then.  Okay.  That’s good.  Maybe it inspired some people in need of it there.  But he spent a  very long time on this.  Then he turned to his history lesson.  I sighed with relief.  Although I can support his embrace of Christian values, I think this was already well known to nearly everyone there.  So, on to history.

Beck purportedly displayed some absolutely incredible and invaluable artifacts of American history - letters and other documents.  The examples on stage (I hope) were not the originals he owns (because they won’t last long in this kind of setting if they are).  It doesn’t matter in the least.  The information he shared was undoubtedly news to some there.  He talked about Jefferson and his confrontation of Islam during the war of the Barbary Pirates.  He stressed that this was our first foreign war and it has been predicted that it will also be our last - the war against Islam.  He informed the audience that Jefferson urged our people to read the Qu’ran.  I have urged the same.  Do you have a copy?  I do.  It is chilling.  You need to give it a try.  It’s hard to get into, but it is very revealing. The Barbary war was about 220 years ago.  People don’t realize that it is still current.  They should have been told how current it is.

Finally in the last few minutes Beck took some questions (there was no debate, by the way).  Of course a little ambush was planned for him by anti-Israel kids.  Beck should have expected this and been prepared to fight back.  Gloves off.  The question was, “is it acceptable to burn babies alive?”  The kid seemed to have responded (and sound being what it was, it was somewhat indistinct) that “under some circumstances . . . “  Instead of shaming him, Beck  threw up his hands and said he would pray for the kid.  

So, where Beck dropped the ball, I’d like to fill in a couple of thoughts here.  I’d like your thoughts.  Whatever happened in the referenced attack on an American ship LIberty in 1967, which was the subject introduced by another kid,  it is history.  For the record, the Liberty was an American spy ship.  Israel bombed it.  They ended up apologizing (I know, small consolation) and paid about $13 million in reparations.  We didn’t let them off the hook then.  What happened in 1967 is not what is happening now.    

What is happening now is that Hamas, a well-known TERRORIST organization, attacked innocent Israelis on October 7, 2023, killing, maiming, raping and kidnapping innocent civilians - young people at a concert, out dancing, tending their business in a kibbutz.  They baked babies in ovens.  And when someone in the audience asked, “where’s the proof?” Beck might have offered the statements of the Hamas terrorists themselves.  They are proud of it.  They celebrate it.  We might recall that when the Trade Towers imploded (I use the term advisedly) in New York these same creeps were dancing and cheering in the streets.    

Israel is in an existential struggle to survive.  They did not attack the people in Gaza.  They were attacked. They didn’t perpetrate an attack.  What would you propose they do in response?  Say, “Oh, my, what a terrible thing to do”?  I think not.  Not if they don’t want this repeated until they no longer exist.  

The Israelis have a right to defend their people and their land.  They should not be expected to sit there and be attacked.  The fact that they are basically good soldiers is to their credit.  That their government is at great pains not to harm innocent Gazans/Palestinians is very much to their credit.  America likes to brag about how we defend freedom and fight against tyrants.  Yet never did we have the delicacy during warfare to give advance warning.  When we bombed Dresden we had no compunction about the innocent casualties.  They were unintended, to be sure, but we did not let their safety get in our way.  We had a war to win.  Now the Israelis are in a fight to survive.  Their history should inform us that they cannot depend on going anywhere else.  Look - they tried Germany, they tried Venice, they tried Russia, they tried Spain, they tried Poland.  They tried here, for that matter, but they have never had any kind of cultural security.  The advent, some 1400 years ago, of a viciously hostile religion - Islam - has guaranteed that they will have to keep fighting.    It was in 1948, after the experiences ofd Hitler’s Germany, that the world basically agreed that they are entitled to some kind of homeland and returned to them a tiny strip of a nation to make the best of.  

The Israelis literally “made the desert bloom”.  They applied technology to their agriculture and water supply, they have excelled in developing their economy and their trade.  They have tried to share their knowledge and experience with the people of Palestine but to no avail.  Those people do not want success as we all know it.  They don’t seek prosperity or a good life for their people or peace.  They seek to destroy Israel.  That’s all.  They are trained from earliest childhood to celebrate the horrors practiced against the Israelis.  When Beck’s little heckler got up and brought up the question of “proof”, why didn’t Beck quote the messages conveyed back home from Hamas attackers:  “Mom you’ll be so proud of me.  I killed x-number of Jews with my bare hands.”  Or maybe just remind him of the celebrations when 3,000 innocent Americans were killed in New York on September 11, 2001?  We don’t need to go into “who did it” but we should look at the reaction to it from Palestinians.  And maybe contrast it with the Jewish reaction.  

We don’t have to love the Jews.  We don’t have to pledge allegiance to Israel.  All we need to do is to acknowledge the realities here.  Islam is on a mission to conquer the West.  They see our values as garbage.  Our Constitution is bathroom tissue to them.  Our leaders are villains - and I mean Jefferson, Washington, all of them since.  Except maybe Obama.  They see them and the little fool who brought up the Liberty issue - after nearly 60 years and many intervening leaders and administrations - as trash.  If you are not a “believer” in THEIR religion, and are not practicing it, YOU are trash to them.  And here’s another thought.  We have made nice with Saudi Arabia and a few other nations in the region.  But the minute Israel is gone we will find them united against US.  And that little idiot last night will be no exception.  

Before we all decide to hate Israel - or even criticize it (which we have a right to do, of course) - we should look at alternative outcomes.  We should examine what harm Israelis are doing to world peace.  If they are attacked, within their own borders, it is not they, but Hamas, Gaza, Palestine, who upend peace.  And I would take some exception with Beck and other “reasonable” people who want to differentiate between these entities.  Decide who you support based on how they react to the death or misery of people like you.  If they celebrate when you are hurting they are not your friends.  

There is the possibility that saner Palestinian people will disavow Hamas in time.  They should.  The aid that has been going to these people has been largely hijacked by Hamas for use against Israel.  Maybe they will rise against Hamas.  It will take guts.  And they might have to re-examine their allegiance to this violent terrorist organization.  But it could happen.  Palestine has been the recipient of copious international humanitarian aid and some of that from Israel.  We need to stand more firmly for our views and our values.  Examine them in context.  Do you prefer a win by Hamas?  How will this affect you - and America?  We do not need to fight Israel’s wars.  We need to get out of their way.  It’s not our business to criticize people who are in a fight for their very lives.  

If you think you’d like Hamas to rule the world, are you ready to give up art and music?  Most of your food?  Normal dress?  Your own religion?  Free speech?  I don’t think these sacrifices are on my personal wish list.  Like everything else in this life, this isn’t about Israel not being “perfect”, or liking the Israeli government or approving everything they might do.  It is a choice - do you want Hamas to be in charge?