Former President Jimmy Carter Apoligizes to the Jewish Committee

Al Het translated from Hebrew means "for the sin." It is a prayer of confession recited on Yom Kippur which is, in the Jewish religion, the holiest day of the year. It is also called the Day of Atonement. On this day Jewish people spend much of the day in prayer and fasting.

Former President Jimmy Carter said he was offering an Al Het for any thing he said or did that may have upset the Jewish community. He did this in a letter that was, it seems, meant to improve feelings between the Jewish community and himself. Jimmy Carter through my eyes (I am Jewish) is pro-Palestine. He wants a separate state for Palestine but I wouldn't consider him anti-Israel. Offering an Al Het was his way of asking for forgiveness.

The letter was sent first to JTA, the Global New Service for the Jewish People. The letter was then sent to The Associated Press.

The views many take about his anti-semitism (or not) comes from the time of his presidency. Several things happened. He was the mediator for the first Israeli-Arab peace treaty which sounds great but he then wrote a book called Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Some say that he compared Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa which others say was an unfair characterization.

In addition Israeli leaders have also turned their backs on President Jimmy Carter because of his travels to Gaza to meet with Hamas. Hamas, of course, is considered a terror group by the United States, the European Union and Israel.

Abraham Foxman, 69, is the national director of the Anti-Defamation League and has been a critic of President Carter's views on Israel. The Anti-Defamation League is "The nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency. The ADL states that it fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all." (wikipedia)

In spite of the book, Mr. Foxman never called Carter an anti-semite. Mr. Foxman welcomed the former President's apology. He stated, "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." source

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee couldn't be reached for comment. The letter comes weeks after his grandson, Jason Carter, said he would run for a Georgia state Senate seat. The district is one with a Jewish population who speaks their minds but Jason said that the letter had nothing to do with his campaign. Hmm....

President Carter is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. One of his goals has been to bring peace to the Middle East.

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." source

Just for your information Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia has a very large student Jewish population.

Sources

New York Daily News
Wikipedia
News at Yahoo