Jimmy Carter Offers Apology to Jews

(AP)  Former President Jimmy Carter apologized for any words or deeds that may have upset the Jewish community in an open letter meant to improve an often-tense relationship.

He said he was offering an Al Het, a prayer said on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It signifies a plea for forgiveness.

"We must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel," Carter said in the letter, which was first sent to JTA, a wire service for Jewish newspapers, and provided Wednesday to The Associated Press. "As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so."

Carter, who during his presidency brokered the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty, outraged many Jews with his 2006 book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Critics contend he unfairly compared Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa.

Israeli leaders have also shunned him over his journey to Gaza to meet with Hamas, considered a terror group by the U.S., the European Union and Israel.

Carter's apology was welcomed by Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a vocal critic of Carter's views on Israel.

"When a former president reaches out to the Jewish community and asks for forgiveness, it's incumbent of us to accept it," he said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. "To what extent this is an epiphany, only time will tell. There certainly was a lot of hurt, a lot of angry words that need to be repaired. But this is a good start."

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee could not immediately be reached for comment.

The letter comes weeks after his grandson, Jason Carter, said he would run for a Georgia state Senate seat being vacated by President Barack Obama's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Singapore. If David Adelman is confirmed as ambassador in January, Jason Carter will be a candidate in a March special election in the northeast Atlanta district.

Jason Carter, who is running in a district with a vocal Jewish population, said in a statement that his grandfather's letter was unrelated to his campaign and hailed the apology as a "great step towards reconciliation."

President Carter's letter said he hopes bloodshed and hatred will yield to mutual respect and co-operation between Israel and its neighbors. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has long said bringing peace to the Middle East remains one of his unfulfilled goals.

In a recent appearance at Emory University, he said if he had one more day as president he would use it to bring the "full weight of the White House" to the peace process.

"That's what I'd do with my one day in the White House," he said. "Bring peace to Israel and its neighbors."

[mordecai_hacohen]

(a) He did not apologize to the Jews. What the media calls his ?apology? was a mangled prayer to God for forgiveness of sin. However, as a Christian, he already believes he?s forgiven for his sins (see his interview in Playboy November 1976), so either he?s a hypocrite or he converted to Judaism and no one knows about it.
(b) He did not apologize for being anti-Semitic. He only talked about stigmatizing Israel. His anti-Semitism has been fully documented elsewhere (antisemite.org).
(c) He did not even apologize for stigmatizing Israel. He mentioned that he may have contributed to the stigmatization of Israel (?for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so?). That?s not an apology. A real apology entails an admission of guilt (i.e., ?I?m sorry that I did such and such?).
(d) A proper apology also requires the intention to change behavior, a commitment that was absent in his letter. In fact, he pretends one can criticize the Jewish state as long as we avoid stigmatizing Israel (?we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel?)?as if somehow that is possible.
?An enemy dissembles with his speech,/Inwardly he harbors deceit. Though he be fair-spoken do not trust him . . His hatred may be concealed by dissimulation,/But his evil will be exposed to public view.? Proverbs 26:24-26.

[P0STING_AWAY]

by JV1970 December 27, 2009 12:47 AM EST
All of you Jew and Israeli haters are forgetting the FACT that whole middle east region from the Sinai to the Euphrates river in Iraq actually belongs to the Jews! It was given to them thousands of years ago by their father Abraham who in turn gave it to his youngest son Isaac, the ancestor of the Jews! He did not leave it to his oldest son Ishmael, the ancestor of the Palestinians! He did bless Ishmael and his decendants but the bulk of his blessings went to his youngest son Isaac! You are also forgetting the fact that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was a Jew and a decendant of King David!
========================================================================
You are (conveniently) forgetting that this story is
PURE K-R-A-P. This is all based on FICTION. These welfare queens
need to open their eyes to the fact that being welfare queens and
occupying land that does not belong to them is W-R-O-N-G.

[JV1970]

POSTING_AWAY I dare you to prove it's fiction! Come on! I want to see your proof! Don't give me that evolution crap either! I want to see absolute written black and white PROOF and not someone's theory!

[dragon8me]

I don't think he has anything to apoligize for.

[edgy44]

Carter and his wife need to take the $200k we give them each year, and make jobs with it. They need to get peer review on their rambling books, or shut up.

While it is true that South Africa's treatment of blacks, and Israels treatment of Arabs is generally a bad thing, as we can see now, just transferring power to the other side leads to something worse.

Just look at agriculture and jobs in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. Look at the whites who are physically removed or killed to rape their land. Then look at what the new regime does. They cause disease and starvation.

If you give a kid a chocolate cake, he will eat it. If you give a man a chocolate cake, he will share it.

[JV1970]

All of you Jew and Israeli haters are forgetting the FACT that whole middle east region from the Sinai to the Euphrates river in Iraq actually belongs to the Jews! It was given to them thousands of years ago by their father Abraham who in turn gave it to his youngest son Isaac, the ancestor of the Jews! He did not leave it to his oldest son Ishmael, the ancestor of the Palestinians! He did bless Ishmael and his decendants but the bulk of his blessings went to his youngest son Isaac! You are also forgetting the fact that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was a Jew and a decendant of King David!

[edgy44]

So where does that leave the Chinese and the Brazilian pygmies?

[kenhamlett]

I like Carter but I think he has finally tipped over the edge into senility. Israel has no right to exist, has routinely and systematically looted our nation and many others via handouts and outright theft and is a disgrace to the human race.
Hopefully that statement helps offset Carter's ramblings.

[bankersvox]

According to easily found sources, J. Carter received more than 10 million $$ from Saudia Arabia Zayed - "for his projects" in 2006 !


Harvard had 2 million grant and sent it all back once the true source was found out.


What happened to this money - 10 million is a lot of money !

Also, what specifically - Does Jimmy say he is sorry about ??

I truly believe that EVERY story the press does, should mention the fact that Jimmy is an Ex President, and that he has been found out to have taken over 10 million $$ from Arabs. The latter fact tells the tale.

Shame.

[sshivers]

Easily found sources??? What are they? Are you afraid that we will see how poor they are? You obviously have a very twisted definition of the word "fact".

[nearl451]

Funny thing is that alot of Jewish/Israeli money also has been donated to the Carter center......but there's no conflict of interest there.

This is a knee jerk response perpetrated by Alan Dershowitz after Carter's book. Anyone can skew figures.

You think Derschowitz is credible? Ask Finkelstein.

[P0STING_AWAY]

It is WAY past the time to put these welfare queens on notice.
Instead of spending money expanding farther into Palestinian lands,
it is time to pay back all of the welfare payments the US has made
over the years.

[chitown639]

Carter, stand by your words....we ALL know that the Jews havent exactly been saints in their role in the Middle East conflict....but very few politicans and even fewer media outlets have had the guts to say it....

[50BMS13]

Jimmy Carter is a disgrace as a President. If he had his way, America would dis-arm 100% and we would sit down with the likes of Ahmadinejad and Chavez and ask for them to be nice to us now.

[JV1970]

No, you have him confused with Barack Obama!