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December 22, 2009
How Carter Can Get Forgiveness
Ha'aretz reports that Former President Jimmy Carter has asked American Jews for forgiveness for "stigmatizing Israel":
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has apologized to the American Jewish community for 'stigmatizing Israel' and asked for forgiveness for his actions, the JTA reported on Monday.
"We must recognize Israel's achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel," Carter wrote in a letter to the JTA.
"As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so," Carter wrote, referring to the prayer said on Yom Kippur in which Jews ask God for forgiveness for any sins.
According to the Jewish concept of repentance, words are not enough. A change in behavior is also essential in order to receive forgiveness. And he has not done this. When CAMERA provided detailed documentation from United Nations and Arab sources disproving President Carter's claims in the International Herald Tribune last month about destroyed homes and homeless in the Gaza Strip, among other falsehoods, the former president refused to back down. The paper, without providing any documentation to substantiate Carter's erroneous claims, refused to correct.
One small step in the direction of repentance would be acknowledging to IHT editors that he had wronged and he would like to correct the record.
Posted by TS at December 22, 2009 03:34 AM
Comments
Could Jason Carter (Jimmuh's grandson) running for Georgia State Senate have something to do with this sudden change of heart?
CBS News
Posted by: David Guy at December 26, 2009 01:45 PM
Here are a few suggestions for Jimmy Carter to make us believe he's truly repentant:
1. Ask his publisher to withdraw all unsold copies of his book.
2. Ask university and public libraries to discard/return their copies.
3. Donate his proceeds from the book to Israel or any Jewish charity.
4. Write another opinion piece to the Herald Tribune retracting his original article.
Unless he does any or, preferably, all of the above, we should ignore him and his so-called apologies.
Posted by: A. Levy at December 28, 2009 06:06 PM
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