Jimmy Carter is sorry. (Or maybe not…)
Jimma, when not spooning with Hugo Chavez, has said and written many bad things about Israel. He has substantially blamed Israel for much of what is wrong in the world and for just about all that is wrong in the Holy Land. In his book “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid,” Carter called Jewish settlement practices “apartheid” and substantially blamed Israel for every rock thrown and rocket launched by a Palestinian.
But now he is really, really sorry. Carter issued this apology for any feelings he may have hurt with his reflexive anti-semitism.
In a letter to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published Monday, Carter offered a holiday message wishing for an Arab-Israeli peace.
“We must recognize Israel’s achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel,” Carter’s message said. “As I would have noted at Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het (a plea for forgiveness) for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”
Isn’t that nice. Oh, in a not-at-all related story, Jimmy Carter’s grandson is running for Congress in a Georgia district that has a significant (at least for Georgia) Jewish population.
“Hey, I am really sorry for all that anti-Israel stuff I have been doing for years and years. I am also really sorry that I left that Holocaust thing out of my book on Israel and all the other things. Yeah, really sorry about that. Have you met my Grandson Jason, he is running for Congress and he really likes Jews.”
The only thing worse than no apology is a convenient apology. Funny, I didn’t think I could like Jimmy Carter less, I guess I was wrong.
December 23, 2009 at 2:29 pm
mashugana
December 23, 2009 at 3:28 pm
People in Georgia have a long memory. This time around there will be no peanut brigade.
December 23, 2009 at 3:50 pm
When will he apologize for his Presidency?
December 23, 2009 at 4:47 pm
You guys just got linked to in the Corner by Jonah Goldberg. I am jealous.
December 23, 2009 at 5:14 pm
How does this affect his chances of getting carved into Mount Rushmore?
December 23, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Congrats you got linked on NRO's The Corner by Jonah Goldberg.
December 23, 2009 at 5:44 pm
They've lost funding for him smiling every time a third world dictator gets his wings, John, but I hear they've still got enough money to have peanuts shoot out his nose every hour on the hour. For the kids, you know.
December 23, 2009 at 7:31 pm
It should be noted, though that the Israeli settlements are rather akin to apartheid. The Jewish settlers have their own fancy roads and infrastructures to build their illegal settlements on the West Bank (as an undeniable attempt to take over more land) while the Palestinian Muslims and Christians are forbidden to use any of that infrastructure, must travel on substandard roads and are subjected to checkpoints every few miles. Let's try not to be reflexive either in our condemnation of Israel or in our support.
December 23, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Settlements are not illegal- do you call occupied jewish community buildings in Arab countries illegal settlements? and when there is a fight it is better to separate people. That was done in Bosnia, Serbia, didn't saw anyone prostesting the "apartheid" au contraire was ailed as the good diplomatic solution.
Btw are you against stadium separations between soccer supporters? In war there shouldn't be a different security behavior?
December 23, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I think the comparison to apartheid is apt.
Israel is creating "bantustans" in the West Bank, severing the organic links between regions and isolating Palestinian communities, limiting Palestinian access to land and resources, and continuing the expansion of settlements declared illegal under international law, daily eroding the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.
Outside of the United States and Israel, this is an uncontroversial comparison. Only in "AmChurch" is an uncritical approach to Israeli policy so widespread.
December 23, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I think the only thing any politician likes is money and manipulating it out of our hands.
December 23, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Anthony: THERE IS NO PALESTINE
December 24, 2009 at 2:17 am
Christians and Muslim Israeli citizens of Arab origin are not allowed to live in certain areas of Israel, buy property in them, nor sell property to non-Jewish Israelis. If you don't think this is appartheid then maybe you should reexamine up the definition.
Sonnabend, actually there is: historically and currently.
December 24, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Will that man never go away?
December 24, 2009 at 8:21 pm
The Jewish population voted for obowma, even though they knew he hated them.
If they are stupid enough to vote for Carter's grandson, they deserve what they get. Period.
I love and respect the Jewish people, but they have really pissed me off this last year and a half.
December 24, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Additionall, I think that photo of him should be used as a definition of a "sour puss".
and may he always keep his trap shut…
December 24, 2009 at 9:59 pm
can anonymous please give me the Israeli laws which restrict Christians and Israeli Arabs from living in certain parts of Israel? Can anonymous also name an Arab country that has Jews in government. In Israel here are Arabs in the Knesset and the Supreme Court. Sorry, there is no comparison of Arab freedom in Israel versus Jewish freedom in Arab countries. Jews have no freedom, nor do the Christians.
December 24, 2009 at 11:06 pm
"Anonymous":
Where is "Palestine" on a world map? Besides in the imagination of Hezbollah and Hamas. Last I checked there was no such entity.
December 24, 2009 at 11:11 pm
As for Carter, that putz has a lot of chutzpah trying to give a disingenuous "apology".
Jimmy Carter: "Hey, now that my Grandson is running for Congress in a district with a large Jewish Population, I want to say I'm sorry for all the anti-Simetic, pro-Islamic terrorist crap I've spewed for the last 60 years."
December 25, 2009 at 4:03 am
A little something for Anthony and Dauphin..the real 'apartheid' is in the Arab world, which ethnically cleansed almost every one of its Jews after 1948. That includes countries like Algeria that had zero to with 'Palestine'. They expelled their Jews with basically the clothes on their backs the minute Algeria got its independence, simply because they were Jews.
Obviously, neither of you have ever been to Israel and seen how Arabs are integrated into every facet of Israeli life. Some Arabs ( Druse, Bedouin and Circassians) even serve proudly in the IDF.
As for those `bantustans', checkpoints and separate roads they're there for one reason – lots of Palestinians love nothing better than to murder Israeli civilians to please Allah and for the sheer sport of it, and the IDF keeping things separate is the alternative to simply pushing the Palestinians back over the Jordan or killing them wholesale, ala' Jordan's King Hussein during Black September.
Here's what generally happens when the Israelis remove those checkpoints:
http://joshuapundit.blogspot.com/2009/12/rabbi-murdered-by-palestinians-in.html
Of course, the Israelis could have simply copied the Arabs and repatriated all those Jordanian citizens back to Jordan after King Hussein attacked Israel in 1967 and lost what his father King Abdullah successfully stole 19 years earlier, but the Israelis had the idea they could live in peace with the Arabs. Not that they get any credit from people like you pr Jimmy Carter for trying to do the right thing, even though it simply ended up resulting in a bunch of Jewish corpses.
As for Jimmy Carter, he not only owes a real ( as opposed to fake) apology to Jews, he owes one to his countrymen.
Regards,
Rob