Today, January 27, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The 27th of January was designated as such in 2005 and marks the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945. The U.S. Holocaust Museum will honor survivors in the Museum’s Hall of Remembrance.
The Washington Post reports:
A coalition of rabbis wants Fox News chief Roger Ailes and conservative host Glenn Beck to cut out all their talk about Nazis and the Holocaust, and it’s making its views known in an unusual place.
The rabbis have called on Fox News’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, to sanction his two famous employees via a full-page ad in Thursday’s editions of the Wall Street Journal – one of many other media properties controlled by Murdoch’s News Corp.
The ad is signed by the heads of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements as well as Orthodox rabbis.
“We share a belief that the Holocaust, of course, can and should be discussed appropriately in the media. But that is not what we have seen at Fox News,” says the ad, signed by hundreds of rabbis and placed by the Jewish Funds for Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group. Earlier this month, the group organized a letter-writing campaign asking Murdoch to remove Beck from the air.
The rabbis were prompted by Beck’s three-part program in November about liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros, whom Beck described as a “Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps” during World War II.
Soros was a young teenager in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the war and hid with a Christian family to escape the Holocaust. He once described accompanying his surrogate father while he confiscated property from Jews deported by the Nazis.
The Jewish Funds group has received financial support from Soros’s Open Society Foundations.
Ailes, in a November interview with the Daily Beast Web site, called NPR executives “Nazis” for their decision to fire Juan Williams, also a Fox commentator. He later apologized to the Anti-Defamation League, but not to NPR, saying, “I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word, but I was angry at the time because of NPR’s willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough.”
Beck trotted out a rabbi or two right after his really horrible words about Soros as a child. That made it even tackier.
Nazi is probably just one of those words that needs to be shelved unless one is speaking of Germans during the WWII era. That term has been just been thrown around too much and needs to be reserved for the monsters of the time.
So, a Soros backed group calls for removal and/or disciplining of Beck and to modify their talk of Nazis, etc. Hmmm, so Beck and Fox are the ones doing this? Ok, then.
This is my shocked face.
More of the same.
Actually, if nothing else this shows you how fair and balanced Fox is… they printed an opposing view bashing a different part of the biz.
Good on them.
I meant to write, ” so Beck and Fox are the ONLY ones doing this?
That’s probably who pissed off the rabbis the most. Did you actually hear the Beck 3 day spiel? It was unacceptable, IMHO.
Yeah, I’ve heard what he’s said. And the reaction is overblown. I’m not asking you to approve or anything like that. What I find acceptable and what you find acceptable are two different things, especially about Beck.
I find it unacceptable that someone who suffered so immensely under a totalitarian regime is trying to shut down or at the least set the parameters for the free speech of others in this country. To criticize that speech because of its content is entirely legimate, but to try to force someone to change his expressed opinions through a threat of a loss of livelihood is but an imitation of the totalitarians themselves.
Saying what Beck said about any kid is wrong.
How is Soros trying to shut down speech?
I don’t see him as being any worse than Murdoch. In fact, I might just go out on a limb and say both are scum bags. One no scumbaggier than the other.
But in our country they have a right to BE scumbags. 🙂
Why is this group only calling out Fox and Beck? Will they go after equally as hard a more left friendly network? Have they done so already and I just missed it?
When, during the battle over health care reform, did this same group of rabbis call for the stifling of Pelosi when she likened some in the Tea Party opposition to Nazis? When the late congressman from Pennsylvania likened the actions of our military troops in Iraq to Nazis, did they call for him to step down? Just asking.
THIS is the issue. Beck behaved disgustingly…PERIOD! Let’s keep the focus on the subject at hand. Say what you will about not liking Soros or his politics, but to imply, nay almost accuse, Soros, as a young jewish teenager, trying to survive being deported to die in a gas chamber and then out up a chimney, of being a Nazi sympathizer is not acceptable.
How anyone can see this any other way is simply unfathomable to me.
Soros is jewish?
Sorry, Elena, but you seem to be confusing your personal reaction to something which Beck said with the much more basic issue of free speech. You can disagree with Beck all you want and say so without recrimination. You can even ban contrary opinions from your own blog if you so wish. But your control ends there. You have no right to call for someone else to punish their employee for saying something with which you disagree. Neither does that group of rabbis. The most you can do is make your opinion known to that employer and threaten to deny him your future custom if his employee continues to say things with which you disagree. That’s about the sum total of your personal power. I am in the same situation. I can, for instance, disagree strongly with some of the things said on this blog by Moe Davis or Starryflights. I can voice a contrary opinion if so inclined. But I consider myself as having no moral authority whatsoever to demand that you ban their posts because I disagree with them. To do such a thing would be a violation of my own principles. For me, then, the crux of the issue at hand is not what Beck said but the wrongheaded effort to deny him his right to free self-expression. That is soley between Beck and his boss. We, on the other hand, have the right not to listen.
From the WaPo:
“It is not appropriate to accuse a 14-year-old Jew hiding with a Christian family in Nazi-occupied Hungary of sending his people to death camps,” says the ad. “It is not appropriate to call executives of another news agency ‘Nazis.’ And it is not appropriate to make literally hundreds of on-air references to the Holocaust and Nazis when characterizing people with whom you disagree.”
No one would argue with that. It may not be appropriate, but it’s legal and it’s Constitutional. I don’t want George Soros or anyone else to be able to throw their money around to change that fact. Knowing that “The Jewish Funds group has received financial support from Soros’s Open Society Foundations” makes this a frightening prospect.
Where was your outrage for Keith Olberman being “sanctioned” by MSNBC for not being able to spend his money where he wanted. Futhermore, I am not suggesting the guy go to jail or even be fined, but GOOD LORD, a simple that was an inappropriate commentary would be sufficient. And furthrmore, how many times has Glen Beck likened President Obama to Hitler, numerous time, numerous.
Emma, why are you not railing against the influence of Koch brothers?
Beck needs reigning in today. He has insulted just about everything about my being. Talk about broad brushing.
I just want to slap him in the face. Let’s see, all southern cops were degenerate. The children born of those who fought in WWII just didn’t realize their parents’ sacrifices and were the vile hippies who screamed that cops were pigs. You get the drift.
He is irresponsible, obnoxious, and insulting. Plus he is an old man who is still wet behind the ears.
@marinm
That group of rabbis are just sick of Murdoch and Beck’s insulting crap about Holocaust victims, I imagine. Why did they say they were sick of them. What other groups make obnoxious statements about Nazis? I doubt if they like neo-nazis alot either. However, Neo-nazis don’t have the same reach Murdoch and Beck do.
@Elena “Emma, why are you not railing against the influence of Koch brothers?”
Because we’re talking about George Soros. If I railed about everything, I’d be nothing but….a railer.
“That group of rabbis are just sick of Murdoch and Beck’s insulting crap about Holocaust victims, I imagine.”
So they give him ample material for the next few days so he can rail on Mr. Soros and this group of rabbi (whats the plural of rabbi?) and just up his ratings as people tune in to see how/what he says? And they do this on a newspaper also owned by Mr. Murdock? I would imagine that Mr. Murdock is laughing at the rabbi and Mr. Soros all the way to the bank…
I have no problem if those that hate Beck want to boycott him and encourage others to boycott him but I’m not sure how this open letter will do anything but HELP Mr. Beck?
Elena, I remember there being a lot of support for Mr. Olbermann. I think there was even support on the right for him. I don’t think Mr. Olbermann is a very bright man but I will go to bat supporting his right to air his *stuff* on tv (cept now he’s cancelled… yay!).
The World of George Soros
As a strong supporter of Israel, I have run across an organization which is called J Street. This organization claims support by many Jewish-Americans and labels itself as pro-Israel. That is how they define themselves. I couldn’t help but notice, however, that their policies were almost always in opposition to those of the Israeli government and other pro-Israel organizations in the U.S. Got no problem in principle with that. Their voices have every right to be heard. In fact, I found that a few of their expressed ideas had some possibilities for compromise in a situation where everything seems to be at loggerheads in the Middle East.
Not too long ago, J Street appeared to have gone too far for some folks. They advocated that President Obama NOT veto a UN resolution condemning Israel over the Gaza problem. This set off New York Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman like a rocket. Ackerman is considered to be a liberal Jewish-American congressman. He declared that J Street had, in effect, gone off a cliff. Why was this significant? Because Ackerman had strong links to J Street and even received campaign donations from them. Now he says he is going to break all ties with the group. J Street tried to back and fill here with the usual “we have been misinterpreted.” (I have found that to be their standard response in any disputation over their claim to be pro-Israel.)
How does Soros fit in here? Well, for some time now, there have been claims that J Street was operating at least in part on Soros money. The claims were denied adamantly by J Street honcho Jeremy Ben-Ami and went unsubstantiated. (Just to clarify sourcing here, I took much from a 29 September 2010 report in the WaPo and combined it with a read of J Street’s own websites, disclaimers, public statements, and what have you, along with the charges from anti-J Street elements.) J Street claimed repeatedly that they received no funds from Soros, although they said they would welcome a Soros particpation if he so desired.
Then somebody at J Street made a mistake, and the Washington Times found the mistake. The organization’s tax forms showed that they had received about $245,000 from the Soros group. Now Ben-Ami was caught up in the J Street prevarications. He had to admit the thing. In fact, they admitted to receiving about $500,000 as part of a three-year deal. But they still proclaimed that they were proud and honored to be supported by Soros — sort of disingenuously skipping over that bit about having tried to hide it for so long. Their big counter-claim was that the organization had been started by themselves with seed money that did not come from Soros and that their major support comes from small donations by Jewish-Americans of a like mind. O.K. But why hide the Soros money if you are so pleased to have his support? Did you perhaps perceive a possible taint attached to that kind of money? Why would that be if Soros is such a straight up guy? Could it be that your views tally with the views of George Soros and you didn’t want that to be public fodder because Soros has, shall we say, a “certain reputation”? And, if you start to deviate from Soros think, will that money vanish? Just asking is all. Soros. Koch. Goose. Gander. Kettle. Pot.
Let’s read the text of the letter of complaint. These rabbis are of different political persuassions and are rabbis of very different congregations: reform, orthodox, conservative. They have one thing in common and that is their dislike of what they have described. Rather than act like they are on the take from Soros, how about lets look at it like they united over this issue.
As for first amendment rights, Beck and Ailes don’t have first amendment rights when they are speaking for a Murdoch organization any more than a reporter has first amendment rights with the Washington Post.
Any publisher can rein in its employees. If the employee wants to exercise his or her rights, they are free to go elsewhere. That is the point of the letter.
Moon — How would you feel if supporters of Sarah Palin expressed a view that the Moonhowlings. net should be “reined in” because of its constant opposition to almost anything which Palin says and does? Yep, I can see just how far that suggestion would get. And I personally would be on the side of Moonhowlings. net — not because of Palin but just on principle.
Elena — Love your spunk, lady; and your heart often winds up in a right place in my book. But, to declare it “unfathomable” that everybody does not jump up and salute automatically in support of your own opinions — just a little much, don’t you think? Let me start doing that on this blog and see how far I get.
Glenn Beck. You guys watch him far more than I do. In fact, I never watch the show. But, then, I am just one of Moe’s “sheepeople.” Rarely ever watched Olbermann either. Both cases apply. Let them both have their say. It is all between them and the people who hired them as far as I am concerned.
Wolverine, I am not sure what your point is. Not all Jews have the same beliefs about Israel.
So what who Soros contributes to.
Do you really have that much time on your hands that you research Soros? 🙄
What is it that you don’t like about him really?
@Wolverine, people make that suggestion daily.
We have also been criticized rather harshly for allowing the term ‘Nazi’ to be used here, even though Elena and I did not own the blog at that time.
If you recall, I had to place a trigger on the word ‘Nazi’ because it was being hurled about so often. Those who used it and Hitler ended up in moderation.
So yes, I know all about that.
As for Sarah Palin, I haven’t accused her of genocide nor would I allow anyone else to do so.
@Wolverine
Regarding Pelosi and Murtha….I would have to see those comments in context before I commented. I believe with the rabbis, it was the long-standing habit and frequency that brought them out.
I can’t remember Ms. Pelosi calling anyone a Nazi. Murtha is dead. Nothing we can do about anything he said or did.
I do find the suggestion that George Soros was a Nazi collaborater/sympathizer disgusting, and that on this issue, people, regardless of ideology cannot find that objectionable, is “unfathomable” to me.
I totally agreed that Representative Cohen likening those in the republican party as Nazi’s or nazi like unacceptable. On that we could all agree, but this, this outrageous suggestion by Beck regarding Soros is different?
No, Wolverine, you are right, I guess I am too stupid to understand the difference, and am just going a little over board suggesting that people see this as the same way I do.
Reading these posts, some are of the belief that George Soros funding invalidates anything the recipient does and others believe Koch money has the same effect. If both sides are right, what does that say about the Cato Institute, George Mason University, and the Hudson Institute? All three took money from both according to 2008 tax filings available to the public on Guidestar.
@Morris Davis
Wow. Just wow. We had a decent food fight going and you had to come along and spoil it by saying something reasonable.
Next thing I know, you’ll be saying that these guys are just businessmen throwing around cash to advance their respective agendas. I hope you’re proud of yourself, party pooper.
Thanks for bringing that up, Moe.
I don’t expect many comments from people after they read what the letter said. It wasn’t hidden. It was embedded in the article. It was a big pain in the tail to get formatted for the blog but I think it is important for people to know what they are speaking about.
Nothing was done about it when Murtha was alive either, although he did draw a lot of return fire. And, yes, Pelosi did liken the Tea Party people to Nazis, principally because a few oddballs in the crowds on the Mall were traipsing around with silly symbolic signs. So I guess the next time the denizens of the Socialist Workers Party show up at a Jon Stewart rally carrying their banners, I can call attendees at the Jon Stewart rally a bunch of pinko commies?
It is one thing in my book for pundits to get into that kind of name-calling but quite another for elected politicians to start tossing around such accusations. I support neither. My personal view is that we should, indeed, shut off the Nazi comparisons voluntarily — all of us, on both sides. There are quite enough contemporary invectives that we don’t have to resort to the history of the middle of the past century. The next thing you know, I could be calling the Left a bunch of “communards.” Or maybe I should try “Luddites.” Nah, wouldn’t work. History has been given such sort shrift in our modern schools that most wouldn’t even understand what I was talking about.
If you don’t care about Soros, then you shouldn’t care about the Koch brothers either. Why am I interested and why do I do it? I am retired. Research was my life, and I had to get used to doing it quickly and accurately because lives were often at stake. Fast and smart research was the thing pounded into my head from the first day of training. Answers to and from the field had to be fast, accurate, comprehensive, and forceful all at once or you could buy yourself and someone else a heap of trouble. If you didn’t know, you admitted it right up front. You saw what happened to those clandestine officers in Afghanistan when the alert system broke down. Somebody dropped the ball. The current DCI admitted it. And the cost was more nameless stars on the wall of the atrium.
In this particular case it is because, as I stated in the other post, I am a strong supporter of Israel. I am interested in the flow pro and con. The general interest in Soros comes from a life of trying to ferret out this kind of thing, both pro-Marxist and pro-terrorist. It is habit. I’ve seen it many times before. People with an agenda who are flush with money. People with an agenda who need money. The money flows. The people who get it deny the connection or deny that the cash has influence. Happened all the time during the Vietnam War era — indeed, during the entire Cold War. I personally dislike dealing in a milieu where the other side may have been “bought” by a hidden hand. But, given the nature of our peculiar political system, I cannot escape it. Just have to try negotiating around it and making up my own mind based on the facts which I myself am able to ferret out. And I do not subscribe personally to political or politicized organizations. Doesn’t always work out the way I want it to but I still try. But, if you start inferring that I am something called a “sheepeople,” you will get return fire.
Moon, I sometimes see questions here about the whereabouts of Wolverine. Just an alert for you. I have arrived at a point where I am starting to pour years of research into formal and very detailed family trees for at least eleven famiies. Some of that research goes back as far as the early 14th century in Europe. So, there may be times when I disappear. Will, however, plug in to read the battle scenes from time to time. I’ll just leave Moe with a parting shot that will probably make him cringe. I think I may have found a family connection through marriage up along the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Haven’t confirmed it yet because the Davises are thick as ears of corn in the fields in the Carolinas. But it sure is a Hell of a hoot just to think about it! Cousin Moe. LOL!!!
I ask about your whereabouts when I have not seen you for a while. Other people travel a lot further on blogs than I do. It is human concern, not nosiness.
And you never know. Moe might be glad to have a Cousin Wolverine.
People of wealth often give to causes they support. I support Israel but I will also say their human rights record has at times been questionable. I figure I am not there so I tend to not speak out often. Its real easy to sit in Manassas and pontificate.
Oh, and Moon, what I don’t like about Soros are his off-beat ideas on how he wants to transform my country and its role in the contemporary world to fit his own peculiar vision. Nor do I like how he spreads his huge pile of money around, often under the table, to accomplish his goals. He has a vision? He should have run for office and laid that vision out in front of the electorate. You don’t win my confidence by trying to buy your way in through front or sympatico organizations. I had enough of that crap with the frigging Comintern. Moreover, if Moe can show me with primary research how George Mason University has been bought out by the Koch brothers, I will say the same thing about that pair of ultra-libertarians with whose basic philosophy I in no way agree. Just show me the money — without Frank Rich or Jane Mayer being your main “sources” of information.
Wolverine — You’ve got the general area right, so keep me posted. I always thought I had migrated as far north as anyone in the family, but Sterling Park tops me by 20 miles.
Wolverine — The source I used was tax information submitted by the Koch foundations which is available on Guidestar. For tax year 2008, it shows 4 grants to GMU – one for $91,500 to GMU; one for $2,781,500 to the GMU Foundation; one to the Mercatus Center at GMU for $1,050,000; and another to the Mercatus Center for $600,000. Charles Koch and Richard Fink (Pres of Koch Ind.) are (or at least were in 2008) on the board of directors at the Mercatus Center. According to Mercatus IRS form 990 for 2008, the Center received $2,352,000 in grants, so the Kochs portion equals 70% of the Center’s grant total. It is a reasonable inference that two seats on the board and that level of financial support carries some clout.
@Wolverine
I don’t care for the visions of Murdoch, the Kochs or Soros for America.