Is Carter an anti-Semite?

Notes and thoughts on the question that's being pondered all around the American Jewish world: well, is he?



1.

First, about the question: What I chose to ask at the top of this piece is not merely a provocative headline meant to draw the attention of angry talk-backers. It is a question that is now being discussed around every corner and in the halls of every gathering of the American Jewish community. I keep hearing about people who debate this question, and was a witness to more than one such occasion. Is it a legitimate question? Does it make the Jews look paranoid? Should one even ponder the idea of a former President as an anti-Semite? While I'm not sure what the answers to all those questions are, I am sure that they are already out there.

2.

The Anti Defamation League was the most visible organization to argue publicly that Carter was getting to a point in which one could call him an anti-Semite. Abe Foxman, always first to recognize the issue of the day among his fellow Jews, wrote to Carter that "In both your book and in your many television and print interviews you have been feeding into conspiracy theories about excessive Jewish power and control. Considering the history of anti-Semitism, even in our great country, this is very dangerous stuff."

3.

But Foxman is not the only one that thinks Carter was getting there. Last Friday, at the reception for Natan Sharanski in the Israeli Embassy, I was surprised to hear the same argument from some people - Americans - who attended and debated Carter's motivations. One of them said that he "never thought Carter was anti-Semitic," but that now he feels that Carter is "trying to rally Christians against Jews." Somebody else told me that he thought "the true Carter is coming out now" and explained this by hinting that people "when they get older, tend to reveal what they really think."

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