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Jimmy Carter's Jewish Problem

[Washington Post] Deborah Lipstadt - Jimmy Carter's book, while exceptionally sensitive to Palestinian suffering, ignores a legacy of mistreatment, expulsion and murder committed against Jews. It trivializes the murder of Israelis. Now, facing a storm of criticism, he has relied on anti-Semitic stereotypes in defense. Carter has repeatedly fallen back - possibly unconsciously - on traditional anti-Semitic canards. In the Los Angeles Times he declared it "politically suicide" for a politician to advocate a "balanced position" on the crisis. On Al-Jazeera TV, he dismissed the critique of his book by declaring that "most of the condemnations of my book came from Jewish-American organizations." Does that invalidate their criticism - and mine? Perhaps unused to being criticized, Carter reflexively fell back on this kind of innuendo about Jewish control of the media and government. When David Duke spouts such stereotyping, I yawn. When Jimmy Carter does, I shudder. A man who has done much good and who wants to bring peace has not only failed to move the process forward but has given refuge to scoundrels. The writer teaches at Emory University.
2007-01-23 01:00:00
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