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Jimmy Carter to receive award from law school with Jewish affiliation; and opposition arises

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Jimmy Carter is due to be honored on Wednesday in New York by a student publication at Cardozo Law School, part of Yeshiva University, which has institutional Jewish ties. Opposition has now arisen to his appearance, with one fervent site calling itself “Shame on Cardozo” and alleging that Carter is a “defamer of Israel” and a supporter of Jew-haters.

Here is a statement from a Cardozo official standing by the international peace award (posted at the opposition site) and citing Carter’s broad record for human rights, including the Camp David accords:

The students have made this decision based on President Carter’s achievements, and we support their right to do so.

As usual in these cases, it is not clear how wide the opposition is. Here is a concerned statement from the Jewish Law Students Association of Cardozo, sent out by email yesterday:

This past week it was announced that Cardozo’s Journal of Conflict Resolution will be honoring former President Jimmy Carter at Cardozo on Wednesday, April 10th. Upon hearing this news numerous students and alumni expressed their concerns about honoring the former President because of his views on Israel. Some alumni calling themselves the “Coalition of Concerned Cardozo Alumni” even launched a website to express their disappointment.
 
In order to address these concerns JLSA will be organizing a town-hall style meeting, tomorrow April 8th (assuming we can get a room), which will be open to everyone. The floor will be open for people to express their opinions and hopefully give everyone an opportunity to be heard. We will send out another email tomorrow once we have confirmed.
 
We would like to remind everyone that the Journal of Conflict Resolution has a right to honor whomever they choose and it is doubtful that they are honoring the former president for his political views on Israel. However, we do understand that some people may be disappointed by this choice because of these views.
 
Hopefully everyone’s concerns can be addressed constructively, with due respect to the school and the Journal’s event organizers.
 

Here is an excerpt of a more extreme statement at the Shame on Cardozo site:

Jimmy Carter has an ignominious history of anti-Israel bigotry. He is responsible for helping to mainstream the antisemitic notion that Israel is an apartheid state with his provocatively titled book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”, the publication of which prompted mass resignations from the Carter Center. He has met numerous times with leaders of the terror group Hamas whitewashing their genocidal goals and undermining US efforts to isolate Hamas. And Carter’s record of slandering Israel is so voluminous that both CAMERA and Alan Dershowitz have written books refuting his lies.

While Carter may be credited for the role he played in the Camp David Accords as President of the United States and the resultant cold peace between Israel and Egypt that ensued, that event took place close to 30 years ago. Since the end of his presidency, Jimmy Carter has exhibited extreme antipathy towards Israel – and by extension the Jewish people – that places him firmly in the camp of the likes of Walt and Mearsheimer.

It is simply unconscionable for a Jewish affiliated school to honor someone who has played such a high profile role in demonizing the Jewish state.

We therefore urge you to condition any continued support of Cardozo, be it financial or otherwise, on the cancellation of this event. 

Please also take 2 minutes out of your busy schedules to contact the Dean of Cardozo and President of Yeshiva University to express your outrage. Contact details are below…

Silence is complicity.

The Coalition of Concerned Cardozo Alumni *

Carter’s great achievements of the last few years include getting the word “apartheid” in the American discourse, over the opposition of Wolf Blitzer and Terry Gross, and reporting from Gaza, after the onslaught, that people there are treated worse than animals. The Cardozo opposition is symptomatic of the poverty of the U.S. conversation on this issue, and of the fact that Carter was lately denied an appearance at the Democratic convention because his views on Israel and Palestine are seen as toxic to Jewish supporters. When all Carter has ever supported is a two-state solution, and the autonomy promised to Palestinians in the peace deal he brokered with Egypt in 1978, and in the UN Partition resolution of 1947, promises never fulfilled. 

Thanks to Alex Kane.

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lol .. the Carter protesters imply that, to support Human Rights is to be a “defamer of Israel”. So their message is becoming a little muddled. Is it: “Human Rights are a bad thing”, or “defaming Israel is a good thing”?

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Why doesn’t the @-#$%^&* admin say:

ALTHOUGH, we do understand that some people may be disappointed by this choice because of these views, WE ALSO understand that some people may be delighted by this choice, and preciesly because of Carter’s views on Israel/Palestine

Wouldn’t that be a refreshing way to address the fact that there are (often) (at least) two sides to any debate? Even in a Jewish context, where (on any topic other than Israel) with N Jews there are N+1 opinions.

So there.

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“Jimmy Carter has exhibited extreme antipathy towards Israel – and by extension the Jewish people ”

Floating that conflation balloon again. Who’s gonna pop it?

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RE: “While Carter may be credited for the role he played in the Camp David Accords as President of the United States and the resultant cold peace between Israel and Egypt that ensued . . .” ~ ‘Shame on Cardozo’ site

AND HERE’S THE “THANKS” CARTER GOT FROM THE LIKUDNIKS FOR THE ROLE HE PLAYED IN THE CAMP DAVID ACCORDS:
“The CIA/Likud Sinking of Jimmy Carter”, by Robert Parry, Consortium News , 06/24/11
As the Official Story of the 1980 October Surprise case crumbles – with new revelations that key evidence was hidden from investigators of a congressional task force and that internal doubts were suppressed – history must finally confront the troubling impression that remains: that disgruntled elements of the CIA and Israel’s Likud hardliners teamed up to remove a U.S. president from office.

[EXCERPTS] . . . It is far easier to assure the American people that no such thing could occur, that Israel’s Likud – whatever its differences with Washington over Middle East peace policies – would never seek to subvert a U.S. president, and that CIA dissidents – no matter how frustrated by political constraints – would never sabotage their own government.
But the evidence points in that direction, and there are some points that are not in dispute. For instance, there is no doubt that CIA Old Boys and Likudniks had strong motives for seeking President Jimmy Carter’s defeat in 1980.
Inside the CIA, Carter and his CIA Director Stansfield Turner were blamed for firing many of the free-wheeling covert operatives from the Vietnam era, for ousting legendary spymaster Ted Shackley, and for failing to protect longtime U.S. allies (and friends of the CIA), such as Iran’s Shah and Nicaragua’s dictator Anastasio Somoza.
As for Israel, Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin was furious over Carter’s high-handed actions at Camp David in 1978 forcing Israel to trade the occupied Sinai to Egypt for a peace deal. Begin feared that Carter would use his second term to bully Israel into accepting a Palestinian state on West Bank lands that Likud considered part of Israel’s divinely granted territory.
Former Mossad and Foreign Ministry official David Kimche described Begin’s attitude in his 1991 book, ‘The Last Option’, saying that Israeli officials had gotten wind of “collusion” between Carter and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat “to force Israel to abandon her refusal to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, and to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Kimche continued, “This plan – prepared behind Israel’s back and without her knowledge – must rank as a unique attempt in United States’s diplomatic history of short-changing a friend and ally by deceit and manipulation.”
However, Begin recognized that the scheme required Carter winning a second term in 1980 when, Kimche wrote, “he would be free to compel Israel to accept a settlement of the Palestinian problem on his and Egyptian terms, without having to fear the backlash of the American Jewish lobby. . .
. . . Yet, while motive is an important element in solving a mystery, it does not constitute proof by itself. What must be examined is whether there is evidence that the motive was acted upon, whether Menachem Begin’s government and disgruntled CIA officers covertly assisted the Reagan-Bush campaign in contacting Iranian officials to thwart Carter’s hostage negotiations.
On that point the evidence is strong though perhaps not ironclad. Still, a well-supported narrative does exist describing how the October Surprise scheme may have gone down with the help of CIA personnel, Begin’s government, some right-wing intelligence figures in Europe, and a handful of other powerbrokers in the United States. . .

ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://consortiumnews.com/2010/062410.html

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“When all Carter has ever supported is a two-state solution, and the autonomy promised to Palestinians in the peace deal he brokered with Egypt in 1978, and in the UN Partition resolution of 1947, promises never fulfilled. ”

Yes Former President Jimmy Carter has been telling the truth about the I/P conflict for a long time. In reality he is one of Israel’s best friends. What great company to be in with Walt and Mearsheimer. When Carter has directly been verbally attacked at conferences his grace, facts and commitment to both the Palestinians, Israeli’s and peace is undeniable. He cuts through the hatred with facts and love of both people and his sincere desire for peace and justice. Love that man

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