Jimmy Carter's "New Anti-Semitism" and The New York Times

"New anti-Semitism" is a new form of racism that has emerged in recent decades from the Left, Right, and radical Islam, usually disguised in denunciations of Zionism and Israel.

What has this "new anti-Semitism" to do with The New York Times?

During much of 2009, The New York Times posted savage anti-Semitic online comments to its op-eds, notwithstanding its purported policy of refusing "abusive" comments, and notwithstanding my entreaties to the Office of the Public Editor of The Times to put an end to this racist abuse. See:

http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2009/06/clark-hoyt-responds-has-new-york-times.html

This practice of disseminating the vilest imaginable expressions of anti-Semitism ended only after my correspondence with a very senior New York Times editor, who asked to remain anonymous.

End of story? No.

On November 5, The New York Times published an op-ed, written by Jimmy Carter, entitled "Goldstone and Gaza". Among Carter's various allegations:

- "In January 2009 rudimentary rockets had been launched from Gaza toward nearby Jewish communities".

- "it was difficult to understand or explain the destruction of hospitals, schools, prisons, United Nations facilities, small factories and repair shops, agricultural processing plants and almost 40,000 homes."

- "The Goldstone committee examined closely the cause of deaths of the 1,387 Palestinians who perished".

- "Hamas leaders have announced that their investigation is under way, but Israel has rejected Judge Goldstone’s request."

- "Several hundred thousand homeless people suffered through last winter in a few tents, under plastic sheets, or huddled in caves dug into the debris of their former homes."

- "I was informed recently by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia that he has pledged $1 billion, and other Arab leaders have added an additional $300 million for this purpose [housing for Gazans]."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/opinion/06iht-edcarter.html

My response:

- More than 10,000 rockets, missiles and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israeli population centers since 2001, which have killed and maimed Israeli civilians. There was nothing "rudimentary" about the Grads fired by Hamas at Israeli cities.

- No hospitals were "destroyed", and Hamas itself booby-trapped a school. Al Mazen Center for Human Rights, a pro-Palestinian NGO, recently issued a report called "Cast Lead Offensive in Numbers" in which it found that 2,632 houses were destroyed beyond repair and 8,522 were assessed as repairable, i.e. numbers that do not approach Carter's "almost 40,000".

- Carter cited Hamas casualty figures without observing the death of Hamas combatants, which, according to Israel Defense Force intelligence, amounted to 709 out of a total of 1,166 dead Gazans.

- You are really going to place trust in an investigation by Hamas, the same "people" who claimed that Israel is distributing aphrodisiac chewing gum to Gazan youth to correct their morals? Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces has conducted its own investigation, but why believe an American ally?

- A January 21-27, 2009 report by the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, issued soon after the Gaza fighting found that "Tens of thousands of Gazans remain homeless, with most staying with relatives or other host families." A January 16-20, 2009 report, also by OCHA, stated: "As of late 20 January, 18,035 people remained in 30 shelters, down from 29,421 people on 19 January." In short, the UN's figures for displaced persons last winter were one-tenth or less of the number posited by Carter.

- Carter has Abdullah's ear? Why doesn't he ask Abdullah why women who are gang raped in Saudi Arabia are sentenced to prison and whipped?

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America ("CAMERA") confronted The New York Times with some of the above inaccuracies, but according to CAMERA:

"NYT editors would not take responsibility for the content, suggesting that because the material originated with the [International Herald] Tribune, it is up to that newspaper to run corrections."

Jimmy Carter is a a coward (he didn't dare debate Alan Dershowitz) and a liar, but he is also a former U.S. president, and I understand the desire of The Times to publish his op-ed. However, I think The New York Times also has a responsibility to publish a rebuttal.

As for Jimmy, whose time on this earth is slowly winding down with the passing of years despite his attempts to cling to relevancy, I suggest he listen to the words from "When I Die" by Blood Sweat & Tears:

"I can swear there ain't no heaven, but I pray there ain't no hell."

Pray hard, Jimmy.

[Although Jimmy Carter asked the Jewish community for forgiveness "for any stigma he may have caused Israel" in a December 21 letter to the JTA (http://jta.org/news/article/2009/12/21/1009832/carter-offers-jewish-community-al-het), Carter repeated many of his lies concerning Gaza in a December 19 op-ed published in The Guardian (http://cartercenter.org/news/editorials_speeches/gaza-121909.html). Carter is clearly a narcissist who knows no shame.]