David Ben-Ariel (original name David Hoover) operates at least forty blogs, and that's not counting various websites. How does he keep track of them all, let alone manage to update so many?Hoover/Ben-Ariel is a hard-line Armstrongist (a former member of WCG in Toledo) who supports the doctrinal positions and wild prophetic speculations taken by the most rigid splinters (he has fallen afoul of PCG after a dalliance with that group.) In addition he posts extreme far-right political and pro-Zionist material. He made the news in 1996.
Friday March 15, 1996
Israel may deport American tied to mosque bomb plot
NAOMI SEGAL Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM -- Israel's internal security service has requested that a U.S. citizen living in Jerusalem be deported because he was involved in a plot to blow up a mosque here.
The American, identified as 35-year-old David Ben-Ariel of Ohio, was reportedly detained for questioning recently by Shin Bet officials.
He was released several hours later, but his passport was confiscated and he was ordered to report regularly to police.
News reports indicated that Ben-Ariel -- and several others who remained at large -- allegedly planned to blow up Al-Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem's Old City. Ben-Ariel strongly denied the allegations and said he was being unfairly treated.
Security sources reportedly preferred that he be deported, and not brought to trial because they lacked hard evidence to convict him.
Ben-Ariel reportedly belonged to the Temple Mount Faithful, a group that seeks to rebuild the Jewish temple at its original location, where two mosques, including Al-Aksa, stand.
Ben-Ariel is said to have arrived in Israel about nine months ago and recently applied for citizenship.
In view of this, it's interesting to note that Hoover's fanaticism appears to have had little effect on his lifestyle, at least prior to 1999 when he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. He writes, perhaps with an element of understatement: "I've been far from a disciplined Christian when it comes to sex outside of marriage."
Despite being the most prolific COG blogger by a country mile, Hoover's influence appears to be minimal - in fact almost non-existent - within the various factions of COGdom. Though he might be "a one-member sect," any attempt to track developments in Armstrong's shattered empire using the Internet will shower the searcher with links to Hoover's many, many entries.
