Yankees’ legend Mariano Rivera (appearing second from left in photo) was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame today amid much fanfare — and sharp criticism from Daily Beast writer Robert Silverman. The sleazy hit piece focused on Rivera’s Christian faith, his [gasp!] right-wing politics and his associations with so-called bigots, racists and loons.
Silverman ripped the greatest relief pitcher of all time, a man who has “served at the pleasure of a racist president, taken part in thinly veiled propaganda on behalf of a far-right government in Israel, and gotten chummy with outright bigots and apocalyptic loons. None of this will be inscribed on his Hall of Fame plaque. It should, even if much of the sports world would very much like to pretend none of it exists.” Silverman recited a list of activities incriminating Rivera —from the position of a leftist writer.
For example, Rivera has made numerous trips to Israel and his support for the Israel Defense Forces is “a matter of public record,” Silverman writes. He’s also “guilty” of being named “Man of the Year” in 2013 by the New York Board of Rabbis.
Rivera visited religious landmarks and “chatted up government officials,” the pro-Palestinian Silverman complains. During a visit to the Golan Heights, Rivera is reported to have said of Lebanon and Syria, “There’s an ideology that infects their thinking, and they just don’t want to live in peace.” – READ MORE