In an effort to quell the brouhaha over his recent book, “Peace, Not Apartheid.” Jimmy Carter took time out of his book tour last week to meet with the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix. My colleague Bonnie Koppell (a Reconstructionist rabbi and US Army military chaplain) actively participated in the meeting and reports that their meeting was quite substantive and complex.
The AP and other media outlets covered this meeting extensively, but Bonnie indicated they did a very poor job of conveying the substance of the conversation. For this reason, I won’t post any news links here. Instead, I encourage you to read Bonnie’s notes below, which are much more interesting than any of the media reports I’ve read on this story:
The impressions which stand out for me, in no particular order, are as follows:
1. President Carter was very proud of his work in establishing the US Holocaust Commission and referred specifically to Elie Wiesel. We replied with Wiesel’s quote, that the lesson of the Holocaust is that “you can get away with it.” We asked him as a student of the Bible and history, and in light of the recent events in Iran, to consider that if we have a sense of insecurity, it is well-founded. He seemed to somewhat appreciate this.
2. He invited us to come teach in his Sunday School class and we invited him to travel with us to visit Israel. We expressed a willingness to see sites through his eyes if he would do the same.
3. He expressed very strong support for Israel as a democracy while roundly condemning the actions of the Israeli government in the West Bank. We asked for and received a commitment from him that he would be more vocal in this regard on his book tour and we conveyed a strong sense that his admiration for Israel does not come through in his book.
4. He had no real answers when asked what are Israel’s legitimate security concerns.
5. He was also silent for a significant amount of time before replying when asked what happens to those in the Palestinian community who are perceived as cooperating with Israel. A member of our group helped him out with the answer: “They have the life-expectancy of a fruit fly.”
6. He promised to condemn Palestinian terrorism more loudly and clearly.
7. We presented him with a copy of the Siddur for Jewish military service members and bookmarked for him the Prayer for our Country, the Prayer for Israel, the Prayers for Home and Moral Strength, and the Prayer for the Journey. We concluded the meeting with prayer, holding hands in a circle.
8. There was a powerful plea for acknowledgement that the cycle of hated is perpetuated by the indoctrination of children as evidenced by prayerbooks in the West Bank community.
9. We did press him as to whether he might be an advocate on behalf of the return of the captured Israeli soldiers. He did not agree to do so. He indicated that he thought a fair offer had been made to exchange three hundred women and children held by Israel for those soldiers and that that offer had been rejected.
Notes from a follow up phone call with Rabbi Andrew Straus:
- He enjoyed meeting with us and learned from us.
- He will do a better job in future interviews of clarifying his use of the term “apartheid” and not using it in reference to the State of Israel, which he respects as a vibrant, thriving democracy.
- He will be more conscientious in denouncing Palestinian terrorism.
- When asked, “What is the Palestinians’ role in the lack of progress in peace negotiations?” he reportedly indicated that there wasn’t one. He does not see rocket attacks as impediments – and anyway they have stopped in the last few weeks.
- Finally, he agreed to write a letter to the Jewish community in some undefined format to express support of Israel as a democracy and to denounce Palestinian terrorism.
Whew! I know I can breathe easier now that we’ve gotten Jimmy Carter to mouth the party line, or at least sing along with the most important choruses. I’ll feel even better when I get that letter from him! Maybe I’ll frame it.
Pardon my cynicism, but this is a terribly depressing post, Brant. I guess I don’t see the substance or the interest. Another critic brought back into line. Hooray for our side.
Yes, yet another Israel-basher brought to his knees by the Rabbinical cabal! Isn’t it grand?
Actually I think you’re selling JC a little short, Eric. I’d say he’s a big boy and is more than able to hold his own in a good faith dialogue…
Well, I did warn you that I was feeling cynical! But the lack of interest, for me, lies not in my own disbelief, but in my sense that what Jimmy Carter now thinks of the region matters not a whit: not to Hamas, not to Fatah, not to Hezbollah, not to Syria, not to the Israeli Arabs agitating for changes to the flag, national anthem, and Jewish identity of the state, and not to the Jewish Israeli side, either.
As for the lack of substance, I guess I just didn’t find the material described very substantial, except perhaps for the tacit admission that Israel has 300 women and children prisoners it’s willing to use as bargaining chips once the war is done, and that we as American Jews think that’s just fine, indeed a fair price to offer.
Oops! There I go getting cynical again!
Seriously, though, this whole business with his book seems to me a tempest in a teapot, at best, and at worst a real distraction from The Situation, which is clearly going to get worse before it gets better. *Shrug* We all have our sore points, and I guess this touched one of mine.
The “letter of resignation” by Dr. Kenneth Stein, widely circulated on the Net, has caused me to look with suspicion and maybe disdain on everything attributed to Jimmy Carter. Add that to other comments about Mr. Carter’s alleged demonstrated anti-Semitism, and I wonder if he is to be listened to at all.