The man who never stops spinning

I always felt that Jimmy Carter had a worldview which was unique onto him. This online Ynet News article opens yet another window into his world:

Former President Jimmy Carter issued a letter to American Jews on Friday, explaining the use of the term "apartheid" in his new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and sympathizing with Israelis who fear terrorism.

Carter, author of 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid' wrote the letter following a meeting this week with a group of rabbis in Phoenix. The letter was released by the Carter Center, a human rights organization founded by the former president. Carter wrote that the letter's purpose was to reiterate that his use of "apartheid" did not apply to circumstances within Israel, that Israelis are deeply concerned about terrorism from "some Palestinians," and that a majority of Israelis want peace with their neighbors.
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Carter wrote that "apartheid in Palestine is not based on racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis for Palestinian land and the resulting suppression of protests that involve violence." He called it "contrary to the tenets of the Jewish faith and the basic principles of the nation of Israel."

Ahem, if I understand what Carter is implying it is the Israeli religious settler’s who are oppressing the Palestinians. I’ve heard the settler’s called many things but to suggest there they do not live according to the tenets of Judaism and to further suggest that their existence in Territories is against the basic principles of the nation of Israel is a first. I wish someone would ask him who he believes sent the settler’s to establish the settlements in Samaria, Judea and the Gaza Strip. I think the answer would be most illuminating.

You know what would be fun to watch. Jimmy Carter debating those religious settler’s – maybe Avi Ran could chair it. Of course, there is no chance in this world for that debate to ever come about. Even if you could get the settler’s to agree to such a debate, Jimmy Carter never would.

Apparently, an American University asked Jimmy Carter to debate Alan Dershowitz. Ynet News carries Carter’s response:

Carter had planned to go Brandeis University to discuss the book but decided against it after the university requested that he debate Alan Dershowitz about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carter said the outspoken Harvard law professor, who has authored numerous books on the region, "knows nothing about the situation."

"I don't want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz," Carter said in Friday's Boston Globe. "There is no need ... to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine."

Personally, I don’t see the need to buy a book by a man who deliberately perverts the meaning of language or historical events to further his own twisted worldview.