Beck Arrives in Israel: Glenn Reveals Information About Surprise Trip

If you were listening to Glenn on the radio Friday morning, you may have heard him say something curious right at the end of the program.  He asked listeners to pray for him over the weekend. He promised he would be praying for the listeners in return.

Now we are learning more about the motivation behind the request.

Glenn is in Israel right now.

Over the next few days we’ll be learning more and more about the reasons why.

Beck has been talking a great deal about Israel lately, particularly his concern that “Israel is being set up”:

This is not Glenn’s first trip to Israel.  Shortly after 9-11, he scheduled a trip so that he could learn more about  the origins of conflict in the region.

“I had done some reading but I didn’t understand until I went there,” Beck told me by phone.  I talked with him a length on Friday and again on Saturday just prior to his departure.

He vividly remembers that experience a decade ago: “The Temple Mount almost pulsated. I could feel it.”

So, why this sudden trip?  He’s working on a project. The decision to go this weekend was made just a few days ahead of time.

During our phone conversation, he spoke with a measured enthusiasm, indicating the project is deeply important to him and that he hoped have more information to reveal very soon.

“It’s time to get out of the studio and get involved,” Beck told me.

He spoke of the “courage and compassion” he sees in the Jewish people and his desire to amplify that message.

Beck was deeply moved by the murders of five members of the Fogel family in the West Bank town of Itamar.  Two Palestinian teenagers have been arrested in the slayings.  Beck has focused on the firm response of Fogel relatives: “They have refused to turn it into hate.”

Glenn has talked about the Fogels at length on radio and TV and hopes to learn more about the family during this trip.

Glenn says this trip, and the project that will unfold, is “because of my commitment to Israel and the Jewish people.”

He said that, as a “student of history,” he feels “crisis is coming” for Israel and that it is time for supporters of Israel to take stand.

Of that first trip to Jerusalem, Beck remembers thinking, “It’s the axis point of the world. Where man connected with God.”  He seemed eager say more about what the next few days may reveal, but he did not give a timeline.  The tone and focus, though, seemed clear: “Courage and compassion.”

Check back throughout the day for more updates.