Glenn Beck to visit Auschwitz for live show

Over the airwaves this week Glenn Beck announced he would be going to Poland to tour Auschwitz and would broadcast the visit live to subscribers of his television network GBTV. This news comes as Beck has put special focus on "standing with Israel," a message he plans to reiterate during his "Restoring Courage" rally in Jerusalem this month.

Beck's relationship with some members of the Jewish community has been tumultuous. In November Beck came under fire from the Jewish national director of the Anti-Defamation League for his comments regarding billionaire philanthropist and liberal activist George Soros, a Jew and a Holocaust survivor.

"Glenn Beck's description of George Soros' actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top," said Abraham Foxman in a statement released by the ADL, "For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say — inaccurately — that there's a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps."

Beck described on air Soros' boyhood time in Nazi Germany, when as a "14 years old he had to help the government confiscate the lands of his fellow Jewish friends and neighbors… who were being sent to the gas chambers," Beck said.

In an interview with Steve Croft, George Soros said, "I don't deny the Jews their right to a national existence — but I don't want to be a part of it," Reacting to this statement, Beck proclaimed, "I'm probably more supportive of Israel and the Jews than George Soros is."

Not all in the Jewish community oppose Beck. To the contrary, Beck's Restoring Courage event will count Jewish Sen. Joe Lieberman among the rally's attendees. Lieberman said on Beck's show, "The idea of the 'Restoring Courage' gathering in Jerusalem is an important idea and a very constructive one at a very important time for Israel … It's not against anybody or any group, it's to stand with Israel at a time when a lot of the rest of the world is attempting to delegitimize Israel."

Email: hboyd@desnews.com