Comments on: Jimmy Carter’s Limited Gaze

By: Neal F.

Neal F. — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:13:18 +0000

It seems to me that Dennis’ comment is quite unfair. The assumption here is that complete equality can exist under siege, where many of the 20% minority would, if they could, destroy Israel. That fact needs to be reconciled with Israel’s imperfections. And that fact is not all Israel’s doing.

Quite a lot of the fault - really most of the fault - lies in the unwillingness of the Muslim group to admit that Jews might have full sovereignty in what they believe must be forever part of the House of Islam. The very same issue is at work in Lebanon. And, the same issue prevents Sunni and Shi’a from burying the hatchet in Iraq and more generally.

Given the reality in which Israel exists, in examining events in fairness and in context, one can only say that, imperfections and all, Israel does pretty well. It provides, altogether, a package of greater rights, more freedom, better education, better health care and a longer lifespan to its Arab population than does any Arab country - and this is by far the case.

Rome was not built in day. If and when Israel’s independence is fully realized so that the country’s enemies are no longer determined to destroy the country, then what Dennis says might mean something. Such is not the case and to pretend otherwise is to be dishonest.

So, taken in context, Dennis’ comment is unfair to the point of being a radical distortion of the facts.

By: Dennis Fox’s Weblog » Blog Archive » Carter’s Brandeis Questions

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 01:03:41 +0000

[…] The Brandeis University website has a transcript of Jimmy Carter’s Tuesday speech with the ten pre-screened questions he was asked, along with his answers. Also a video. As I expected, none of the pre-selected questions pressed him on his repeated admiration for Israeli democracy, a topic I discussed last week. […]

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:40:59 +0000

How can you take the guy who says this?

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/01/jimmy-carter-speaks-on-wwii-so-called.html

By: dennis

dennis — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 02:21:45 +0000

Richard, thanks for the comment. I’ve responded to it in the next blog entry.

Dennis

By: Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 08:52:53 +0000

The problem I have with the pure leftist perspective on Carter and his book is that it doesn’t take into account the broader question of how those who oppose the Occupation can really change hearts & minds both here in the U.S. & Israel. So let’s say Carter takes the next step & declares there is democracy neither under Occupation nor in Israel itself.

What he’s just done is to create a 2 front war he has to fight against his enemies. First, he has to defend his critique of the Occupation. Next, he has to defend an even more explosive accusation regarding the nature of Israeli society. He’s already having enough trouble defending the first hypothesis; and you’d have him take on an even more difficult task to boot.

While I don’t have any problem w. yr description of Israel as seriously deficient regarding the rights of its Arab minority, expecting Jimmy Carter to make this cause his own is unrealistic. Carter is a politician not a moral philosopher or ideologue. He’s less interested in being purely objectively & analytically correct in how he analyzes Israel than in moving skeptics and hostile individuals closer to a progressive view of the I-P conflict.

He’s got a best selling book that lots of people are reading who’ve prob. never thought much about this conflict. Had he written the book you want him to have written, his book would already be in the remainder bin for $1.75 & the ADL, AIPAC, Dershowitz & the Israeli gov’t would’ve had him for lunch.

As it is, he’s giving them a damn good fight & I say “good on ‘im” for it.