Evangelical Carter is having problems with a Jewish state

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Jimmy Carter's Book

By MICHAEL B. OREN
December 26, 2006; Page A12

(snip)

Mr. Carter indeed seems to have a religious problem with the Jewish state. His book bewails the fact that Israel is not the reincarnation of ancient Judea but a modern, largely temporal democracy. "I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures," he recalls telling Prime Minister Golda Meir during his first tour through the country. "A common historical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of the Labor government." He... also reproves contemporary Israelis for allegedly mistreating the Samaritans -- "the same complaint heard by Jesus almost two thousand years earlier" -- and for pilfering water from the Jordan River, "where . . . Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist." Disturbed by secular Laborites, he is further unnerved by religiously minded Israelis who seek to fulfill the biblical injunction to settle the entire Land of Israel... Whether in its secular and/or observant manifestations, Israel clearly discomfits Mr. Carter, a man who, even as president, considered himself in "full-time Christian service." Yet, in revealing his unease with the idea of Jewish statehood, Mr. Carter sets himself apart from many U.S. presidents before and after him, as well as from nearly 400 years of American Christian thought.

(snip)

Identifying with the Jews, a great many colonists endorsed the notion of restoring Palestine to Jewish control. Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental Congress, predicted that the Jews, "however scattered . . . are to be recovered by the mighty power of God, and restored to their beloved . . . Palestine." John Adams imagined "a hundred thousand Israelites" marching triumphantly into Palestine. "I really wish the Jews in Judea an independent nation," he wrote. During the Revolution, the association between America's struggle for independence and the Jews' struggle for repatriation was illustrated by the proposed Great Seal designed by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, showing Moses leading the Children of Israel toward the Holy Land.

(snip)

By the century's turn, those advocating restored Jewish sovereignty in Palestine had begun calling themselves Zionists, though the vast majority of the movement's members remained Christian rather than Jewish. "It seems to me that it is entirely proper to start a Zionist State around Jerusalem," wrote Teddy Roosevelt, "and the Jews be given control of Palestine." Such sentiments played a crucial role in gaining international recognition for Zionist claims to Palestine during World War I, when the British government sought American approval for designating that area as the Jewish national home. Though his closest counselors warned him against endorsing the move, Woodrow Wilson, the son and grandson of Presbyterian preachers, rejected their advice. "To think that I the son of the manse should be able to help restore the Holy Land to its people," he explained. With Wilson's imprimatur, Britain issued the declaration that became the basis of its League of Nations mandate in Palestine, and as the precursor to the 1947 U.N. Partition Resolution creating the Jewish state.

The question of whether or not to recognize that state fell to Harry S. Truman. Raised in a Baptist household where he learned much of the Bible by heart, Truman had been a member of the pro-Zionist American Christian Palestine Committee and an advocate of the right of Jews -- particularly Holocaust survivors -- to immigrate to Palestine. He was naturally inclined to acknowledge the nascent state but encountered fervid opposition from the entire foreign policy establishment. If America sided with the Zionists, officials in the State and Defense Departments cautioned, the Arabs would cut off oil supplies to the West, undermine America's economy and expose Europe to Soviet invasion. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops would have to be sent to Palestine to save its Jews from massacre. Truman listened carefully to these warnings and then, at 6:11 on the evening of May 14, he announced that the U.S. would be the first nation to recognize the newly-declared State of Israel.

(snip)

Mr. Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, is the author of "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East," to be published by Norton in January.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116709330748759250.html (subscription)

[Kagemusha]

1. Just to be clear since I'm not a subscriber...

Mr. Oren is arguing that former President Carter is an anti-Semitic, religious bigot?

[question everything]

6. No, only that he is confused about the existence of Israel

on the one hand, he, like most Evangelicals, wants the Jews to be secure in their homeland to hasten the second coming. And he would like it to be a really theocratic state following all the laws of Judaism.

On the other hand, he is upset that some extreme factions of Israelis do want to follow the writings in the Old Testament that calls for a Jewish state that includes Jordan and Syria..

Thus, he is having a problem with a simple, secular, very down to earth reason for the existence of Israel - a secure place where Jews are free of genocides and expulsions. Where they can be like any other nation, as one of the early writers said: with prostitutes and thieves..

And interesting that he, apparently, has no problem with Islamist parties like Hamas and Hezbollah that do not even want to deal with an independent state of Israel.

As we see with Bush here and everyplace - when a political entity claims to have a direct line to god (which god, by the way?) any reasonable discussion that should take between sovereign states has no chances.

Because this is what could have happen. A secular (though corrupt) Fatah and a secular Israel could have agreed on borders, on free passage, on sharing of revenues, on access to ports, etc. But when you claim that your god is the only god, and that your god calls for expulsions or for annihilation of other people - how can Carter completely ignore these facts?

[niyad]

2. WHY this bizarre, extreme hatred of carter?

[Dr.Phool]

3. AIPAC!

Anybody who says a bad word against Israel is crucified!

[niyad]

4. it isn't just AIPAC--all these reichwingers are having hisszy fits about carter, like he is the

devil incarnate

[question everything]

8. Why is Evangelical Bush is crucified by liberals

and rightfully so, since he claims that he gets his mission from god, but Evangelical Carter is being adored?

I did not follow politics that closely during the Carter years, but I do remember wondering about running a country, and a major chunk of the world, as if he were a pastor in a church. And this is why he was one of the most ineffective presidents of our country.

Funny, the only achievement that he had was the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. And I've read some place that his cabinet - Brzezinski? - was very much against direct talks between Israel and Egypt. Why? I have no idea. But, of course, a peace can happen when the two sides do talk face to face so he basically went along.

[fairfaxvadem]

5. Ugh, not again.

Another convenient scapegoating of President Carter...

As far as I am concerned, Israel cannot have it both ways. They cannot be a nuclear power with a seat at the "table" of world power, under the direct and absolute protection of the USA, along with working embassies just about everywhere, including the UN, and still claim "victimhood." Jews around the world, and not just those in Israel, may claim to be such, and I would never deny them that, ever. But Israel, as a nation, is a player in the world of nation-states, and needs to decide its identity.

Does it want the religious protection of, say, the Vatican? If so, fine. Does it want to play the field with the "Big Boys" (as it does already), then, that's fine too. But don't develop nuclear weapons, have one of the finest militaries in the world, plus a top-notch spy agency which the West relies on heavily, and then cry "anti-semite" every time someone critiques Israel's behavior as a nation, playing the game. And I think it is a very distinct behavior than from behavior stemming from a religious conviction, per se.

I would say to anyone crying for the destruction of Israel: "good luck with that, unless you want the boot of the US down your throat," but otherwise, I do believe that Israel, as a nation, holds the key to the settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians are at rock bottom. There is nothing more to concede from their perspective. Israel will have to take the high road and literally rebuild Palestine themselves. It's the only way it's going to work.

And take that damn wall down.

[whistle]

7. Flame baiting post, suggest withdraw or delete

[Lithos]

9. Locking per I/P guidelines

Title and subject do NOT agree.

Lithos
DU Moderator