NEW YORK (JTA) — A group of American rabbis is calling on Fox News to sanction personality Glenn Beck for "his completely unacceptable attacks" on Holocaust survivor George Soros.
In an ad that ran in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal and in a letter to Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, the rabbis note Beck’s recent accusation against the billionaire Soros, a Hungarian Jew, who "used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. … It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps."
The rabbis also took issue with the response by Fox News chief Roger Ailes that the outrage was confined to "left-wing rabbis."
"We respectfully request that Glenn Beck be sanctioned by Fox News for his completely unacceptable attacks on a survivor of the Holocaust and Roger Ailes apologize for his dismissive remarks about rabbis’ sensitivity to how the Holocaust is used on the air," the letter said.
Signatories included leading figures of the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements. They call for Beck to stop talking about the Holocaust and the Nazis.
The ad was paid for by Jewish Funds for Justice, a liberal group that earlier this month delivered a petition to Fox calling for Beck’s ouster. Also, the group organized a response last year after Beck said the term "social justice" was a code for Nazism and communism.
"We haven’t seen the ad," Joel Cheatwood, Fox News senior vice president of development, told Reuters, "but this group is a George Soros-backed, left-wing political organization that has been trying to engage Glenn Beck primarily for publicity purposes."
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
