All Comments (8)

I am not a spokesperson for Israel and I do not spend my time crafting clever defenses of Israel. I am interested in truth, openness and understanding.

Jimmy Carter seems to be convinced that most of the leaders of Jewish religious institutions don't understand how bad off the Palestinians are and how grossly culpable Israel is for that. I don't think that is true or helpful.

"The problem on all sides is the idea that being an anti-semite is like being white. You are or you are not."

That common idea is wrong. It creates a lot of noise.

i havent heard a defnse of the practices of israel yet-

just waylaying the issue with thei usual cries of anti-semitism

you credit carter with this-
His view is that if almost everyone who attends a Jewish place of worship disagrees with him, they must all be ignorant and need him to enlighten them.

no - that is your opinion-

jimmy carter has never made a statement remotely like that

what have you got against jimmy carter?
that his book is opening eyes?
thats a splendid thing dave

"But it may not be possible to be critical of Israel and not be accused of anti-Semitism."

Some people will do that. But that is not the same as the Jimmy Carter problem. He asserts more knowledge than he has and more certainty than what he knows warrants.

The problem on all sides is the idea that being an anti-semite is like being white. You are or you are not. In practice people like Jimmy Carter assert truths. In his case, some of them are not truths but unfair jibes at American Jews or Israel. His view is that if almost everyone who attends a Jewish place of worship disagrees with him, they must all be ignorant and need him to enlighten them.

However he is not an anti-semite; just one more tall and successful American man who is sure he understands more than he actually does.

People who hate what is happening to Palestinians can be fully aware of how bad off they are without buying into Jimmy Carter's certainties about how to make everything right.

And it may not be possible to defend Israel without some folks calling you a Nazi or a person who does not care about how bad off Palestinians are.

"So: political power corrupts politically, religious power corrupts religiously, and religio-political power corrupts heaven and earth at the same time. That is true for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is also true for Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians."
Arc Angel Lucifer corrupts. Make no mistake about it.

How about being anti-Zionist and NOT anti-semitic?

How about hating the sin/action and not the sinner/actor? (kind of hard to pull off when the very people educated by their history of the ghettos are now repeating the sin and developing ghettos for the ones THEY don't approve of - nevermind....)

How about not mixing religion and state affairs?

How about acting like reasonable adults?

Nawwwwwwwww - that's not "faith-based".

Short, to the point and accurate. Bravo!!!! Now if only the Professor would "Crossanize" the Koran like he did the NT!!!!

Sadly, JD Crossan might be right that it may not be possible to be critical of Israel and not be accused of anti-Semitism. The same may be true in America with respect to criticism of this administration.

I wonder why this sort of pattern has emerged in so many times and places. Could it be that in the absence of a reasoned response to criticism there lies a visceral fear of what a real, unbiased, and thorough examination of the criticism might expose? Attacking the messenger when you don't like the message has a long and sorry history, which brings us back to Crossan's observations on the corrupting influence of power.

Very true. I hadn't realized that the famous aphorism was authored by a Catholic with his eye on the Pope. Fascinating!