Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Another Question for Carter: Is this antisemitism?

Question: Accusation against Jews: In response to a petition signed by 25,000 people, you wrote a one-sentence note (in your own handwriting, on the official letterhead of The Carter Presidential Center) to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which reads in full:
“I don’t think Simon Wiesenthal would have resorted to falsehood and slander to raise funds.” Jimmy Carter

Do you understand that scholars who study antisemitism consider accusing a leading rabbi and a respected Jewish organization of engaging in "falsehood and slander," i.e being a liar to get money as falling squarely within the definition of antisemitism?

Source: http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=245494&ct=3525205
Click here to see a copy of the handwritten note. Quite stunning.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Whoah there. When you fill out the online form for "signing" the petition, you are greeted with:
"Thank you for taking this urgent action. Please consider making a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center so that we can continue our important work on your behalf."

And the email I got after submitting began with a request for a donation!

If that isn't fundraising, what exactly is it? If you really want Carter to acknowledge mistakes in his book, you and others mobiilized against him to need to do the same. Charging antisemitism in this case is a mistake.

Deborah Lipstadt said...

Of course they raise money. They are a non-profit organization that always does. It was the accusation that they were using "lies and slander" [with no demonstration of how their critique of the book constituted lies and slander]simply or primarily to raise funds.

I was only surprised that there was no reference to Judas.