This bit of news caught my eyes--Carter apologizes to the Jewish community for his unfair critique of Israel, most notably in his book Peace Not Apartheid. Abraham Foxman, president of the ADL, stated that "If it turns out that President Carter's love for his grandson brought about an epiphany in his relationship with the Jewish people, that's fine." Foxman's opinion comes in light of the possibility that Carter is doing this to help his grandson, Jason Carter, win the Senate seat in 2010.
Whether ex-president Carter is doing this to help his grandson court the evangelical vote in Georgia or not will remain to be seen. All I can say is that if we are to "give him the benefit of the doubt," in spite of all of the horribles things the man has said about Israel, he needs to put his money where his mouth is. A mere declaration dubbed as an "Al Chet" doesn't cut it. He should start by publicly repudiating his aforementioned book. He should continue by advocating for Israel with the fervor he bad-mouthed it all these years. In Judaism, sincere repentance comes from vowing never to commit the transgression and reversing the damage [if applicable]. This very well could be the beginning of a new Jimmy Carter, which would be nice, but in the same breath, I won't be at all surprised if it is merely a charade to land his grandson in office.
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