Many subscribers have alerted us to former US President Jimmy Carter’s television appearances promoting his new book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”. Perhaps in deference to Carter’s previous high position, some interviewers have displayed a reluctance to challenge the mistaken theme of his book. HonestReporting has previously debunked the false comparison between Israel and apartheid South Africa.
Other critics include Alan Dershowitz who comprehensively takes apart the book, contending that Carter’s
“use of the loaded word “apartheid,” suggesting an analogy to the hated policies of South Africa, is especially outrageous, considering his acknowledgment buried near the end of his shallow and superficial book that what is going on in Israel today “is unlike that in South Africa – not racism, but the acquisition of land.” Nor does he explain that Israel’s motivation for holding on to land it captured in a defensive war is the prevention of terrorism. Israel has tried, on several occasions, to exchange land for peace, and what it got instead was terrorism, rockets, and kidnappings launched from the returned land. …
Mr. Carter’s book is so filled with simple mistakes of fact and deliberate omissions that were it a brief filed in a court of law, it would be struck and its author sanctioned for misleading the court. Mr. Carter too is guilty of misleading the court of public opinion. A mere listing of all of Mr. Carter’s mistakes and omissions would fill a volume the size of his book.”
Click here to read the entire article and Dershowitz’s examination of some of Carter’s more egregious errors.
Carter’s views have also been disowned by high-ranking members of his own Democratic Party including DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Speaker Elect Nancy Pelosi as well as leading African-American congressman Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) who said the use of apartheid in the book’s title “does not serve the cause of peace and the use of it against the Jewish people in particular, who have been victims of the worst kind of discrimination, discrimination resulting in death, is offensive and wrong.”
HonestReporting calls on subscribers to ask the questions of Jimmy Carter that the media is failing to do.
DECLASSIFIED: NYTIMES COVERS HEZBOLLAH MISDEMEANORS
The New York Times, along with much of the mainstream media, played a key role in propagating the view that Israel had indiscriminately and “disproportionately” targeted civilian areas in response to Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon. Now, the NYTimes reports on a new study that says Hezbollah stored weapons in mosques, battled Israelis from inside empty schools, flew white flags while transporting missiles and launched rockets near UN monitoring posts.
The study also says that 650 out of the 1,084 people the Lebanese government has said were civilians killed in the conflict were in fact Hezbollah terrorists.
The NYTimes coverage includes declassified IDF video and photos that explain how “The construction of a broad military infrastructure, positioned and hidden in populated areas, was intended to minimize Hezbollah’s vulnerability. Hezbollah would also gain a propaganda advantage if it could represent Israel as attacking innocent civilians.”
Having conspicuously failed to present this side of the conflict at the time, HonestReporting calls on the mainstream media to give as much focus on this study’s conclusions as it did to the initial allegations leveled at Israel. This report certainly has important implications, not only on opinion of Israel and Hezbollah’s conduct during the war, but also on how the conflict was reported.
Please write to your local newspapers encouraging them to acknowledge this story. Click here for contact information for many media outlets and don’t forget to send copies of your e-mails to HonestReporting at [email protected].
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Satisfied participants recently returned from HonestReporting’s Leadership Mission having attended exclusive briefings with Israeli newsmakers and military experts, meetings with personalities such as Natan Sharansky and Prime Minister’s Spokesperson Miri Eisen, as well as tours of strategic areas such as Israel’s security barrier. And all this while staying in 5-star hotel accommodation and experiencing first-class dining in Israel’s finest restaurants. As one happy participant said:
“Having been to Israel over 100 times, including many missions, I did not know what to expect on an HonestReporting Mission. However, the HonestReporting Mission was one of the best planned, substantive, high-level and upscale missions which I have been on. The program was great, with outstanding and knowledgeable speakers. HonestReporting deserves enormous credit for providing a Mission that was first rate in every respect.”
