WASHINGTON (JTA) — Glenn Beck will keynote the 2011 Christians United for Israel conference.
Beck’s appearance as a keynoter at the Washington Summit of the group in July was posted this week on CUFI’s website.
The volatile talk show host, who announced this week that he is leaving the show he hosts on Fox News Channel, has passionate Jewish detractors and supporters.
Liberal Jewish groups have slammed him for abusing Holocaust imagery — for instance, in likening "social justice" movements to the Nazis — and for falsely accusing George Soros, a billionaire liberal philanthropist and Holocaust survivor, of collaborating with Nazis.
More recently he has peddled theories that closely parallel anti-Semitic tracts, positing the control of the international economy and culture by a cabal. In these cases, many of the "villains" Beck names are Jewish, but he does not identify them as such.
Jewish defenders note Beck’s strong pro-Israel credentials; he was one of the only U.S. news media personalities who focused intensely on the brutal murders last month of five members of a family in a West Bank settlement.
A CUFI e-mail blast to followers describes Beck "as a leading spokesman in defense of Israel and the Jewish people. No matter what your political leanings, there can be no denying the depth, sincerity and importance of Glenn’s stand for Israel."
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