r/JewsOfConscience Oct 02 '24

History In honor of Fmr. Pres. Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday. In 2007, he was interviewed on Democracy Now! explaining why he believed Israel was committing the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.

325 Upvotes

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Rabbi David Mivasair has a GoFundMe to help provide basis necessities for the Palestinians of Gaza. If it is within your means, this is the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-gaza-families-survive

Rabbi Mivasair writes:

I want to add that the need is not only for money. There is a huge need for people there to simply have someone NOT there who expresses care toward them, who listens to them, who witnesses with compassion and empathy. I think of the people who scrawled on the walls of barracks in Nazi concentration camps "if only someone on the outside knew what they are doing to us here". I want to be the people who let them know that we do care, we are listening, we are trying to help, and they can tell us what is going on in their lives.


Please consider signing this petition which calls for a ceasefire and arms embargo, started by Rabbi Brant Rosen of Tzedek Chicago.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/not-another-bomb-sign-on-letter?source=direct_link&referrer=group-jvp-2

Excerpt:

We know that in order to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the U.S. must stop arming Israel’s war and occupation against Palestinians. That’s why we are calling for an immediate embargo on US arms to Israel. Join us in calling on presidential candidate Kamala Harris to distance herself from Biden’s disastrous policy of arming Israel’s ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine.

Not another bomb!

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57

u/englishmuse Oct 02 '24

Here's a United States President telling the World that Israel never wanted to live peacefully with Palestine.

35

u/Euphoric_Exchange_51 Oct 02 '24

He’s also rightly identified that the greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is Israel’s colonization efforts. Imagine any other former president saying such a thing.

31

u/Euphoric_Exchange_51 Oct 02 '24

The only president since Israel’s establishment with the courage to identify the situation for what it is. It’s been years since I read it, but the book he wrote on the subject is beautiful. It’s not intensive in a scholarly sense or anything, but from what I remember, it exudes a sense of compassion and sensitivity to injustice.

48

u/robotoredux696969 Oct 02 '24

It's crazy to think of a US president actually doing an interview on Democracy Now

39

u/Logic411 Oct 02 '24

that's one of the few places he was allowed to speak openly. israel being an apartheid state is one of the best kept secrets in the u.s. corporate media.

15

u/hi_cholesterol24 non-religious raised jewish Oct 02 '24

11

u/PlinyToTrajan Non-Jewish Ally (Jewish ancestry & relatives) Oct 02 '24

Note my soon-to-be Congressman, "Genocide George" Latimer making virtue-signaling posts about President Carter's 100th birthday, seemingly unaware of Carter's strident advocacy expressed in his 2006 book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid."

22

u/echtemendel Jewish Communist Oct 02 '24

In honor? The guy helped perpetrate a genocide in East Timor. He helped bring Egypt into the western imperialist sphere of control and throw the Palestinians under the bus. He deserves no honor (even though he is right about Israel in this video).

20

u/Logic411 Oct 02 '24

the entire arab world has thrown palestine under the bus. this is how imperialism succeeds. the colonialists comes in, exploits the tribalism that exists between tribes or religions, splits the populus, befriends one side or the other, and turn them against each other. When in reality, to the powers that be all the natives viewed are the same.

14

u/EgyptianNational Palestinian Oct 02 '24

The Arab world was forced into an ultimatum.

War with Israel and the US without Russian backing. Or the US will help guarantee your security and you chose peace.

Many Arab countries saw this as a way to pressure Israel through peaceful channels for change in Palestine.

In reality the peace has become a growing liability.

22

u/Euphoric_Exchange_51 Oct 02 '24

All of that is true, but I wouldn’t devalue the work he did at Camp David. He lessened the scope of Israel’s apartheid regime by getting them out of Egypt. Thousands more would be living under West Bank-like conditions if not for him. He’s also rightly identified that the primary cause of violence in the Middle East is Israel’s colonization of Palestine. That alone is worth something.

6

u/[deleted] Oct 03 '24

I just read his book and I can’t believe it was published nearly 20 years ago. The man was truly ahead of his time. It’s unsurprising he was a one term president. He was too good for the job.

3

u/SirPansalot Non-Jewish Ally Oct 03 '24

The fact that he’s outlived Henry Kissinger proves we’re not in the worst timeline; absolute S-tier post-Presidency (debatable presidency)