Carter Defends "Apartheid" Book

Jimmy Carter's 'Peace' Mission To Brandeis - washingtonpost.com

Jimmy Carter defended his latest book in a speech at Brandeis Univerisity, where he was generally well-received by a student body that is 50 percent Jewish:

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 23 -- Former president Jimmy Carter flew north to Brandeis University to speak on Tuesday of his hurt at the personal attacks by some American Jews that followed publication of his latest book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," which urges Israel to turn away from a policy of creating "Bantustans" on the West Bank.

"This is the first time that I've ever been called a liar and a bigot and an anti-Semite and a coward and a plagiarist." Carter paused and squinted at the audience. "This has hurt me."

Carter did apologize for one sentence in the book that he said could be miscontrued as condoning terrorism. However, he strongly defended the book's thesis that Israel has effectively divided the Palestinian territories into ungovernable sham statelets, or "Bantustans." Needless to say, while respectful, not all of the students bought the ex-President's argument, according to the Washington Post.

I give the audience great credit for their respectful hearing of what must have been an unpalatable argument to many of them. The fact that they were respectful while still asking tough questions shows that at Brandeis, at least, the students and faculty understand the meaning of freedom of expression. On a more personal note, one of my Moroccan friends was so moved by Carter's book that he intends to write the ex-President a letter of thanks.