FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Geraldo Rivera for Israeli Knesset?
Fox News host considered parliament bid, offers Mideast peace plan

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Geraldo Rivera, an outspoken Fox News host, award-winning reporter and controversial war-zone correspondent, now reveals he almost added Knesset candidate to his long list of accomplishments, but ultimately decided against changing careers to enter Israeli politics.

"I wanted to be in the Knesset to verbalize without fear the moderate ideology held by the majority of Israelis, especially the younger generation," Rivera told WND. "But the Knesset is already too prone to diversion. Can you imagine me going nose to nose with my fellow legislators from some of the narrowly based parties?"

Born in Brooklyn to a Jewish mother and a Catholic, Puerto Rican father, the "At Large with Geraldo Rivera" host says he was raised "mostly Jewish" and even had a bar mitzvah.

Rivera has visited the Jewish state numerous times since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Echoing comments he made to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Gail Shister, he told WND he considered relocating to Israel several years ago to advance his views on regional peace by becoming a citizen and running for a Knesset seat. But he says he had a change of heart after contemplating the move.

"I'm too secular, short-tempered and impatient to go far in the Israeli parliament. Still, I am at home in Israel, even if my politics may not be in sync," he said.

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