Jimmy Carter Can't Say What Jewish Critics of Israel Are Free to Say
The law came to mind after I got a small book published by the American Jewish Historical Society, called "Essays on American Zionism." (1980). There is an essay in this book by Abba Eban, the famously eloquent Israeli Ambassador to the U.N.
Eban's essay is about Jewish influence on the White House. "Influence" is his word, so is "pressure." In fact Eban describes as absolutely key to Israel's emergence the very thing that the Times recently dismissed as an antisemitic delusion—Jewish influence on Harry Truman.
Some statements from Eban:
—"Public influence" by the American Zionist movement leader Rabbi Abba Silver "would have failed if other avenues of pressure and influence had not been brought to bear on presidential decisions."
—Before the 1944 Democratic Convention, Jewish leaders were told that Senator Harry Truman needed $25,000 for publicity so that he might replace FDR's then-VP Henry Wallace. "I told Boyle that I didn't know Senator Truman,' [Zionist and manufacturer Dewey] Stone later recalled, 'but... if he wanted me to take a gamble I would make the $25,000 available'... When President Roosevelt died in 1945 Harry S. Truman succeeded him and Dewey Stone was among the few to whom he owed a political debt."
—In '48, Truman feared losing, and Stone raised crucial funds, along with his friend Abe Feinberg, another leading Zionist; and they "thereafter had fairly free access to Truman in times of crisis."
—Also in '48, when Truman complained of pressure from Zionists, Jewish leaders arranged for the visit to the White House by Truman's former haberdashery partner Eddie Jacobson in order that Jacobson might become "a lever of influence in the central international predicament of the age."
—The "need for Israel's friends to have a permanent link with the White House arose again" in the case of JFK. Stone and other friends of Israel did not trust JFK because of his father's equivocal views of Nazi Germany. In Aug. 1960, Kennedy came to Feinberg's apartment at the Hotel Pierre and met with "a group of influential Jewish leaders [who] interrogated Kennedy stringently on matters affecting Jews and Israel." As a result, Stone had a "close, personal relationship" with Kennedy till he died.
—Indeed, "without the support of American Jewry" Israel would not have been able to emerge from "vulnerability and weakness into sovereignty." This "extraordinary solidarity and kinship... enlarged Israel's power beyond the limited dimensions of its space and size."
God bless him, Eban is merely describing the workings of part of the Israel lobby. For statements less emphatic than Eban's, Walt and Mearsheimer have been described in the press as antisemites. Keep in mind that one of the key things these influencers were trying to influence was Truman's decision to support the formation of a Jewish state in '47 and recognize Israel in '48. If he hadn't done so, English control of Mandatory Palestine would have gone over to a United Nations trusteeship of the territory. You have to wonder if a more deliberate process might not have worked out better.
Philip Weiss would be a lot more convincing if he actually dealt with the substance of the harsh criticism Carter has received, starting with that of Kenneth Stein, Carter's former associate and co-author. Weiss' version of the "conversation" is that all criticism of Israel's opponents is out of bounds, no better than what he charges the "Israel Lobby" with.
As usual, douche bag Weiss makes no sense- Eban and Carter are talking about completely different topics.
Will somebody please turn this broken record off...Does the Observer realize what junk they have on their website??? It''s the same crap over and over and over...
Phil, in an absolutely brilliant piece of investigative reporting, and in exhibiting courage in bucking the LOBBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, that dwarfs the guys that hit the beach at Iwo Jima or flew the torpedo planes at Midway, because after all going up against the LOBBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is something that takes more courage than that. You've got us, we bought Truman, Kennedy, and pretty much every president going back to Washington. Actually Carter himself is a Zion/Nazi. Giving us cover to continue with our neferious activities. Behind the scenes of course.
I don't believe Kenneth Stein has given any "substance" to his criticisms of President Carter. He said the specifics will come later. So how can we -- yet -- judge his views?
Fear of an open discussion of Israel's bloody suppression of the Palestians must force Zionists to hysteria and personal attacks on those who dare to be critical. Can't those who contribute comments bring themselves to address the substance of issues at hand? Perhaps these pathetic comments are a product of the the Zionist Megaphone Project to flood webpages with personal attacks.
Cicero:
You got us man. You see the e-mails go out from Jerusalem and everything swings into action. Personally I'm going to reccomend that we evict you from your home. We can do it you know. After ethnic cleansing the Palestinians, kiling Christ, and not to mention the black plauge your nothing, Now, I know the "nakba" is the worst thing that's ever happened to any people, anytime anywhere. And the average Palestinian had a marble house, 40 acres of oive trees and that the whole area was paradise until the accrused Jews took over but let me ask you this scumbag. If the Palestinians are being so bloodily oppressed how did Arafats widow end up with 500 million dollars in a swiss bank account. How come their population is growing in leaps and bounds, and how come whenever I see pictures of Palestinians nobody seems like their starving, far from it. If they were then perhaps they shouldn't have wrecked the green houses that they took over in the Gaza strip. Nobody ever talks about the total inability of Arabs to construct a civilized society, where is it. Where are the scientific advances, the human rights, they can'e make anything, they can't do anything except complain. It's boring already.
Phil,
Please change subject.
Eyrrick reforms for Muslims.
Simply, reforms for Muslims.
Ijtihad to sweep Islamic nations.
Assistance to the suffering
minorities in Iran, Iraq,
Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia,
Malaysia..
Moderating the proLifers of America ..etc.
Israel is not one monolithic bock.
Many intelligent and
non-apartheid people live there, too.
Plenty of choices.
Try to knock sense into the
American modern and stone-age
Orthodoxies.
From the Forward:
A prominent Middle East scholar, Kenneth W. Stein, announced his resignation as a fellow of Emory University
One has to distinguish two aspects of the current attempts at zionist damage control.
One is portentious language, to terrify the non-Jewish rubes.
The other is coded threats to Jews who get out of line, which only the latter will understand.
Unless of course some of the recipients of these coded threats blow the whistle, by decoding them, in the newspapers the non-Jewish rubes read.
Thank you Jimmy Carter and Phil for taking Israel off the pedastal. It is long past time that Israel, the top military power in that area and a nuclear power also, should be subject to criticism. Why should Arabs have to pay for what the Nazis did? Cut out a piece of Texas and form a Jewish state if you must. There is a puddle of Jews in a sea of Arabs and you anticipate no problems. Get real. Israel trades artillary shells for bottle rockets and continues to appropriate more Palestinian land, then wonders why it has lost the moral high ground in the Middle East. Ten times the number of Palestinians have been killed as Jews and the numbers keep getting more lopsided. Please open your eyes, there can be no good guys in a cycle of violence.
Yes, decent people don't know it, but the threats to Phill are based in a "law" called Din Moser. Take a look at what the Jewish Enciclopedia tells about the Moserim.
The hysteric, over-the-top comments you've received are wonderful for saving with this file together, for several classroom teaching purposes. And we do use these, believe me.
The comments, the nature of their language and intentions, just hammer the point home as to why we Americans are tired of Israel, the very real Israeli lobby money forcing itself as the sole center of our political rights.
There has been NO comparable historical situation with a living President actually being called out for treason, because he dares to SPEAK ON A SUBJECT! And he disagrees with the power of the Israel lobby.
There has been no comparable situation of a living President who actually MANAGED a peace initiative between Israel and Palestine, to be "educated" on that subject decades later.
There has been also no such comparable situation to a living President having to introduce in a LA times editorial, the reality of what we are not getting in most of the press - the fact there are few Universities inviting him in, he is being blacklisted. A Nobel Prize really goes far nowadays, unless you speak against the reality of what is going on in regards to Israel and Apartheid Policies.
Imagine, we Americans are asked to understand he FIRST should be considered as wrong, as anti-semite, before even beginning a dialog on his book, his epxeriences, and his FACTS - that is, FACTS - that he has brought together.
This is our President who actually managed a peace initiative. Right? Not Bush, Cheney and the Halliburton gang - those guys are supposedly not bothersome to the Israeli lobby, and to Universities who won't invite Carter now. Sure, makes sense.
While I don't expect New York State, with some billion dollars yearly trade with Israel (its second or largest trading partner) to be on Carter's side and invite him to any university soon. But that's always been the point (Hillary...) there are other states, and there are many, many other Americans.
People forget Carter brought faith into the White House. It was an issue back then, and now, amidst all these Wolfowitz neo-cons, the Israeli and Born-Again Old Testament thumpers waiting for Armageddon to get to their selfish view of a rightful place, while Carter's actions since decades, have shown what faith has to do with social issues and humanity.
Finally, one sees a long term plan of culture in the U.S. to be controlled and harassment as the method. But it goes deeper politically speaking. The Kennedy Center, our nations representative cultural center, is not a political vehicle right? So it is said. It is an AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER. It doesn't allow any corporate sponsor to place their logos and so on on it, and doesn't divide itself up into spaces for special interest groups and so on.
EXCEPT...there have been only two nations who have passed by the laws, found finances and apparently enough weight to get themselves a lounge for entertaining and lobbying in the hallowed AMERICAN, NATIONAL CULTURAL halls, just down the street from the White house: China and Israel.
I suppose that is just the nature of the situation, the sole American arts and cultural center in the nations capital, with its laws, is being officially used with lounge-offices, for China, Israeli lobby. Israel, who hasn't enough money, can afford that on equal with China...
What do you think the Capital is doing.
Hey hey hey, here comes fat Albert. Look, I don't pretend to know what you teach in your undoubedly Saudi financed Madressa but nobody has accused Carter of being treasonous. Just an antisemitic asshole. Which he is. Two other things, he "brilliantly" mishandled the Iranian situation to such an extent that they've gone from being an ally to being a hostile enemy soon to be nuclear. And second, scumbag. The credit for the camp david accords go to Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. Not Jimmy Carter. Begin is gone from natural causes, and oh yah, Sadat was guned down by the Moslem brotherhood. Has far as the Kennedy center goes, what in Gods name are your talking about?
When Bill gets his Nobel Prize, then he can call Jimmy Carter names. Until that time, he might consider lightening up on the insipid tirades.
Nobody likes a elitists or bigots.
Fred:
Jimmy Carter got a noble peace prize because the committee thought it was a great way to say fuck you to President Bush. Not because he did anything constructive. And I wouldn't be too proud of geting anything that Yasir Arafat got. And "insipid tirades" ouch I'm wounded by your slahing wit
I've commented quite a bit on the Israeli-Palestinian problem going back to the 70's. At that time some folks on the internet were suspicious that I was an anti-Semite because I was a Christian, not Jewish, but I think they changed their minds.
Since then, on the internet, I've not been so accused or harrassed ... much ... But I do think that many Christians are afraid of that; and they also feel, or used to feel, that they do not have a dog in that fight.
But we do have a dog in that fight. Nuclear detonations in our cities, on top of past oil embargos and 9/11. So Christians must get involved. We need many more Christians as brave as Carter. There are certainly few persons in the world with Carter's experience, as pointed out here.
And if you read his book, his historical and continuing experiences in the occupied teerritories, as well as friendships and acquaintences and interviews at the highest levels in both Israel and Palestine evoke wonder and unequaled by anyone on earth, I suspect.
Mr. Hume, I agree, Americans do have a dog in this fight, and it is absolutely imperative that this debate take place. It is long overdue.
Bin Laden said that the oppression of the Palestinians by Israel was a cause motivating his terrorist attacks. It probably was not true, but the point is, he thought he could get brownie points in the Muslim world by saying it. Clearly much of the anti-American sentiment in the middle east has to do with American foreign policy in the region, and in particular, America's support for Israeli policies with respect to the Palestinians.
Jimmy Carter is a great humanitarian, and the suggestion that he is anti anyone for their membership in a religious group is simply contemptable.
Wow Bill...You're a real genius there. I'm sure Sadat and Begin would've naturally decided to come to a presidential retreat in rural Virginia and then sign a historic treaty even without someone pushing them to do so. By the way love your Madrasah comment, real Fox News-like over there (Way to go Shepard Smith!)
The problem with Carter is not that he is criticizing Israel, the problem is that his book is RIDDLED WITH FAIRY TALES. There are so many inaccurate claims, so many one-sided and DISHONEST portrayals of what he describes as "FACTS", and so many CONTRADICTIONS, that any professional editor in any reputable newspaper would have sent his "stuff" straight to the trash.
Someone has claimed that it seems like the book must have been written by someone at the ministry of propaganda in Damascus, using Carter's name on it.
Or maybe Carter is becoming SENILE?
Or maybe he's been always a FOOL?
And one more thing: Please, be HONEST and take some time to actually LEARN THE FACTS.
It's very convenient to blame Israel for the "occupation" as if it is the problem in the Middle East... As if BEFORE THE OCCUPATION, before June of 1967 -- the Arabs were not in the business of KILLING JEWS...
Arabs' racism and barbaric violence (that started in 1929 and never stopped for ONE SINGLE DAY since) is the CAUSE for the 1967 Six-Day War and the "occupation"... It's not the "occupation" that caused Arabs' hatred against Jews....
And it's not the "occupation" that sent Arabs/Muslims to attack us on 9/11, or bomb the London subways, or Madrid trains, or torch 200 yungsters in a Bali night club, or attack civilians in a Philippines market, or German tourist in Cairo, or fellow Arabs in Amman.
Blaming it all on "the Jews" and Ignoring Arab Terrorism as the most MAJOR factor in the Mideast conflict - is just utterly dishonest.
...Which is what Carter does, in so many words...
Amik, I'm betting you haven't read the book, or I think you would have provided concrete examples of where Jimmy Carter "made up stuff".
I haven't read the book either, but I've ordered it.
Jimmy Carter has been on several TV news programs, in the course of his book tour, and he doesn't sound the least bit senile, or foolish, to me.
I think it's time to ask Jewish Americans "Are you an American first? Or are you a Jew first?" Because it's starting to look like that's a conflict of interest for many American Jews.
I can understand the need for a Jewish homeland. But I can't understand the abandonment of the security of USA residents to the interests of the Israelis, by American Jews. That doesn't sit well with me.
And apparently it doesn't sit well with Jimmy Carter, either. I would suggest you find out what he stands for by visiting the Carter Center's official website.
Ah yes Deborah, the old dual loyalty charge. And I bet some of your best friends are Jewish. First, Jews have been in tremendous plus to America in every field of endeavor, including the miliatary and if you dont think so I'd invite you to visit the Jewish War Veterans Museum in Washington. Second, when someone is obsessively focused on Israel to the exclusion of every other issue in the world, which Jimmy Carter and Phil Weiss are then yes I would call them anti-semitic. I'll give you an example, we lost 50,000 men in Korea. and we still have 30,000+ men there whose only function is to be killed in the first hours in order to draw us into the war. This is for a country that has a major trade surplus with us and is generally anti American. Yet that doesn't bother you. We have men in 100+ countries and are the only thing standing between the gulf emirates and the Shia hordes. Yet the only thing that people like you see is the "crimes" of a people that have been shit on for 3500 years in the most horrific ways possible. And you take the side of Islamic fundamentalists with everything that that entails. If the Israelis really wanted to crack down and cleanse the land of Palestinians, ( which by the way menat Jews before 1948 ) don't you think they would have done it. And if the militaryy balance was reversed do you seriously think that there would be a Jew left alive in the region. The question is not Israel vs. America. It's whether your on Israel's side or Hamas's side. And you sweetheart are on the side of Hamas and Hezbollah with everything that entails. Even though has a women and presumably someone with liberal sensabiities you should be on Israel's side. Yet your not. And the only explanation for that is an intrinsic hatred for Jews. At least be honest about it. And yes you can be born Jewish, ie Phil Weiss and hate Jews. It's called being an apsikoros and has a long history.
"I think it's time to ask Jewish Americans "Are you an American first? Or are you a Jew first?" Because it's starting to look like that's a conflict of interest for many American Jews."
- Tell me, my dear Deborah, how many American soldiers have ever gaiven their lives for Israel? When was Israel EVER asking -- or even ALLOWING -- any U.S. troops to fight for Israel?
Unlike Korea, Europe, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and many more --- there is not ONE SINGLE U.S. soldier stationed on Israeli soil. Never been!
The IMMENSE contribution of Israel to the advancement of the world in science, technology, and research -- is a subject for a BOOK, not a short comment. While Israeli scientists are working on a cure for Spinal-Cord injury, what is coming from the Arab/Isalmic world, except a new patent to blow up commercial airliners?
And tell me, Deborah, what is the connection between Islamic Terror attacks in New York, Washington, London, Madrid, Bali, the Philippines, Kenya, Cairo, Amman, Mombay, Jakarta.... And Israel and/or the Jews?
Why some 125,000 civilians in Algeria have been massacred over the past decade by Islamic militants? What about HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Africans -- and many of them Christians -- in Darfur-Sudan that are being massacred by Islamic militants?
ARE ALL THOSE CONNECTED IN ANY WAY TO ISRAEL AND/OR THE JEWS?
Please don't let FACTS ruin your hateful agenda, Deborah.
Also: "Apartheid"??? Just reading the book's NAME is a clear indication of Carter's biased -- but mostly FRIVOLOUS approach to the Mideast conflict.
What "Apartheid"? This is another CHEAP buzz word that the Arab propaganda machine keeps SELLING to the weak minded and the ignorant.
They also like another buzz word: "Nazis" when describing Israelis... NEVER MIND THAT THE ARABS WERE HITLER'S BEST ALLIES IN THE 40S...
Intereting that for the first 20 years of Israeli occupation in the Gaza and West Bank -- nobody has used the word "Apartheid"... Only after the violence began, in late 1987, and escalated to a massive surge of deadly terror attacks, when Israelis had to DEFEND themselves, creating road blocks, building fences and barriers, hunting the killers and clamping down on the terror infrastructure --- did the Arab propaganda start using the "Apartheid" buzz word.... And idiots like Carter swallow it.
I tell you, the Goebels in Damascus, Teheran and Ramallah are SMILING with much CYNICISM at the stupidity of tose GULLIBLES (like Carter) who swallow their junk.
"We have men in 100+ countries and are the only thing standing between the gulf emirates and the Shia hordes." says Pearlman.
Typical neocon armchair warrior terminology and delusions of grandeur. People like Pearlman are the real "free riders" in the political ethics sense : the people who wreck all equitable dealing because it doesn't give them an extension of their free ride.
Rowan:
I know your a national socialist and you feel bad about missing those great old days, invading Poland and rounding up Jews but what exactly are you talking about. Are there not Shia hordes and are we not the only defense between them and the oil producing gulf emirates.
Amik, Carter has explained that the title of his book is intended to be provocative, he wants to provoke a debate within America. He has also explained that the "Apartheid" is not in Israel, it is in the Palestinian's land. But it is imposed by Israelis.
The Israeli government was able to dismantle a couple of the settlements, which proves that it can, so why stop there?
Maybe you should read the book before you trash it?
Mr Pearlman, I am focusing on a single issue here, and the only side I'm taking is America's side. I would like to see a resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, because it is my understanding that much of the anti-American sentiment in the middle east is due to that ongoing situation, coupled with America's perceived support of Israeli policies regarding the Palestinians.
Just because there may be many more issues to resolve does not mean that nothing should be done about this one.
Amik and Pearlman,
Holocaust survivors have repeatedly castigated comparisons to Nazism being used against Israel's foes. It may be a nasty little propaganda trick you lazy, brainwashed activists like to use all the time since you don't bother to study actual history, but it is an utter disgrace and gravely offensive to keep throwing such nonsense accusations against not just foes of Israel but now, even against reasonable people who dare criticize Israel.
If you think that shamelessly attacking pretty much everyone with the nazi libel benefits Israel, think again you ignorant morons.
There is nothing that pleases the real anti-Semites more than having you morons crying wolf ALL the time, calling even Carter an anti-Semite! Or Tutu and Mandela, who yes, have called Israel an apartheid state. Nothing will please the real anti-Semites more than more flattenings of whole countries as reprisals for the kidnapping of a couple of soldiers, more Beit-Hanoun artillery mistakes, more theft of Palestinian PRIVATE land, more fanatics like Meir Kahane and Lieberman, who will soon be calling the shots.
If I didn't know for a fact that you guys are brainwashed simpletons I would be wondering whether you are working for the real neo-nazis.
Just as many people in the US are starting to wonder whether the neo-cons actually work for Iran, since their policies have made Iran a superpower already, and for Al-Qaida too, since their policies have created more recruits than Osama could have ever imagined, plus pretty soon a new failed state to operate from!
Congratulations! Maybe the evangelicals who support you Eretz Israel fanatics and the neo-cons while waiting for Armageddon are really on to something. They are the only friends you are left with while more than 150 countries continuously vote against Israel's policies.
Oh, wait. You also have the support of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau! No wonder in the National Brands Index, Israel ranks worst by far.
Way to go! Keep it up, you are doing a GREAT job.
Bill, first off learn to have an intelligent conversation...STOP using the term "Shia hordes", because the Iranians, quite honestly, are not even half as threatening as the Huns or other hordes such as Saddam his Baathists or Rowan and his 'national socialists' (ie just look at their economy, end of arguement). Secondly to reiterate the point that Deborah was trying to make,
it is definitely time that we start pressuring Israel to push for peace, instead of letting them go willy-nilly with their foreign policy. Yeah, I know that Israel's policies are only one of the handful of causes for international terrorism, but it is still nevertheless a very important and symbolic reason many hate US, which gives Israel $2 billion annually to fund their wars.
Don't you think we should at least pause to think about how much we've spoiled Israel with war funding, which Carter has done, and actually make them think twice about their policies? (I know you don't, but hey its just a rhetorical question to anyone out there)
First of all ladies an gentlemen, Rowan Berkely is a self described national socialist, ie nazi. And yes, Jimmy Carter is ant-semitic. When you focus totally on the supposed "war crimes" of Israel to the exclusion of anybody else doing anything else, yes that is anti-semitic, what else would you call it. Nobody seems to have any problem with aide to Egypt, Jordan, South Korea, or to be perfectly frank all the money and men we've spent saving Moslems, Kuwait Bosnia, and else where, along with 60 yrs of Nato. When you view the Jews as the souce of all the evil, either regionally or around the world, yes, that's antisemitism. Lastly, Enoch, Hamas has explicitly said no recognition, no negotiation under any circumstances and the war goes on until Israel is exterminated. Your imposing your western outlook on a situation where it doesn't apply. It sounds pretty racist to me. So, let me put a question to you and everybody else. Where is the Arab leaders who are offering an ironclad peace and have the power to make it stick. Like Diogenes, find me the Arabs, in charge that want peace. They don't exist. And that's totally leaving aside the Iranians.
Your either on Israel's side or your on the side of jihad. There is no other choice and it's intellectually dishonest to pretend other wise.