Today on Holocaust Remembrance Day a coalition of Rabbis representing all the main branches of American Judaism took out a full page ad attacking Glenn Beck's frequent Nazi references. This latest attack on Glenn Becks comes from the pages of Rupert Murdoch's flagship publication the Wall Street Journal.
To target Fox News over 'Nazi' label, rabbis make use of Murdoch's other media
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.
I wonder if the WSJ had to call the boss to get his OK?
In an interview with the head of Fox News Roger Ailes, he said the following:
Fox News chief Roger Ailes apologises after describing NPR as 'Nazis'
In an interview, Ailes attacked NPR's management for its dismissal of commentator Juan Williams over remarks about Muslims and terrorism while appearing on Fox News. Ailes told the Daily Beast website:
They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don't want any other point of view. They don't even feel guilty using tax dollars to spout their propaganda.
Hours after the interview appeared, setting off a flurry of controversy, Ailes was quick to apologise by writing a letter to the national director of the Anti-Defamation League: "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."
The ADL said it accepted Ailes's apology. But earlier in the interview Ailes had defended Fox News firebrand Glenn Beck's attacks on George Soros by saying that there are "left-wing rabbis who basically don't think that anybody can ever use the word, Holocaust, on the air."
The ADL had previously condemned Beck's remarks about Soros's childhood experience as a Jew in Nazi-occupied Hungary, calling them "completely inappropriate and offensive".
Today's WSJ ad also attacks Ailes comment from the interview.
To target Fox News over 'Nazi' label, rabbis make use of Murdoch's other media
"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.
"We respectfully request that Glenn Beck be sanctioned by Fox News for his completely unacceptable attacks on a survivor of the Holocaust and that Roger Ailes apologize for his dismissive remarks about rabbis' sensitivity to how the Holocaust is used on the air."
Here's a link to the ad:Jewish Funds for Justice Wall Street Journal ad: Rabbis call on Fox News to sanction Glenn Beck
The Hundreds of Rabbis who signed this letter have my sincere gratitude for their courage in taking on these spreaders of hate and fear at Fox News. The more we can move people's perceptions of Fox News toward their true position on the fringe, the sooner we can diminish their influence.