Restoring courage is the smart thing to do

Efforts to portray Glenn Beck's "Restoring Courage" rally of support for Israel as an event that threatens Israel's international image are totally baseless. Israel haters will continue to condemn Israel, with or without Glenn Beck. They've been doing it for thousands of years. Beck's critics, on both the Left and Right, are trying to delegitimize him because they are all too aware of the enormous influence he has garnered in just a few years.

Along with his pro-Israel evangelical Christian friends, Beck, who belongs to the Mormon church, is often portrayed as delusional, insane, out-of-touch and dangerous. Yet Glenn Beck stands practically alone in his support of Israel in the world media. He portrays Israel as the only free and democratic country in the Middle East and emphasizes our liberal values. During the uproar that followed the 2010 flotilla to Gaza, Beck showed clearly and pointedly what Israelis knew but the international media refused to acknowledge: That a large portion of people on board the Mavi Marmara were terrorists.

Israel's relationship with Beck is based on shared values: the freedom to love, laugh and choose. These are fundamental modern rights rooted in democracy. As for the question of whether Jews are merely pawns in an evangelical vision of the end times, let's resolve that when the Messiah actually comes. In the meantime, Israel faces a crisis of legitimacy. If a highly influential American wants to help us, we should not object. In short, we need to restore courage, and be smart about it.