Israel To Geraldo: Drop Dead!

Israelis in Jerusalem are steaming over Geraldo Rivera’s latest lunge for publicity, says Our Man Elli in Israel. Geraldo, who claims a Jewish mother, tells the Jewish World Review he was ready to relocate to Israel a few years ago and run for a seat in the Knesset in order to advance his views on the Palestinian situation.

His views: Israel's occupation of the West Bank "is bull" and "dehumanizes" the Palestinians,” he’s quoted as saying. "I want peace between Jews and Palestinians, based on equality between the countries."

His caveat: "I would die for Israel."

His excuse for remaining in America: He looked for an apartment, but his then-fiancee and her father put the kibosh on any move to the country.

“I mean, is this tongue-in-cheek? How ignorant is this moron?” Elli writes. “For one thing, you can't run for the Knesset per se, because we don't have representative government (and I mean that in every sense). You have to run as part of a party ticket, and you get elected to the party slate by a party central committee. But even if he could convince party hacks to name him to the slate (and in what language would he convince them?), what party would he choose to join?

“Rivera is quoted as saying that Israel's occupation of the West Bank ‘is bull,’ and that it ‘dehumanizes’ the Palestinians. Hell, the Palestinians got us beat on that front: Blowing up cafes in Israel not only dehumanizes Israelis, it incinerates them.”

"’I would die for Israel,’ he says. By all means, Geraldo, ride more buses in Jerusalem and give yourself up for the cause!”


Our Man Elli in Israel is a veteran journalist and writer whom we worked with in a New York City television newsroom many years ago.

Based in Jerusalem for more than a decade, he's subject of the Frozen Pictures documentary feature, Sex & Baseball, currently in production.


(For the inside story of Geraldo’s original foray into tabloid television, read Tabloid Baby, and chapters like ”Geraldo Finds His Hitler”!)