Why are U.S. Jews still calling Jimmy Carter an antisemite?
JVL Introduction
Former US President Jimmy Carter, who left the White House over forty years ago now, is 96 years old.
His whole life, says Kai Bird, Carter’s biographer “is proof of his stellar personal ethics and dedication to liberal humanitarian principles…. he has never displayed a shred of racial or religious prejudice.”
Yet American Jews don’t like him. Why? Because back in 1977 he made an effort to tackle the problem of Arab-Israeli peace. He was the first US president to talk about the need for a “Palestinian homeland” and of “illegal settlements”.
For that he was viciously attacked, accused of risking Israel’s survival.
And in 2006 he dared to suggest that the alternatives facing Israel were peace or apartheid.
He has never been forgiven, says Bird – but the problem is not Carter’s: “The American Jewish establishment has a Jimmy Carter problem [and…] owes him an apology.”
This article was originally published by Haaretz on Wed 15 Feb 2023. Read the original here.
Why are U.S. Jews still calling Jimmy Carter an antisemite?
The American Jewish establishment, which has wrongly and perniciously attacked Jimmy Carter as an intransigent foe of Israel and even a Jew-hater, needs to start apologizing. Call it atonement.
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See too Peter Beinart’s fierce introductory piece – where he calls for comprehensive apologies to Carter – in the weekly ‘Jewish Currents’ email circular.
Please…. JVL… respond clearly to the dreadful full page of nonsense in today’s Guardian letters page. It requires a response from you and I’m sure that you will set the record straight.
A number of letters have been sent as well as a complaint to the readers’ editor