Simon & Schuster Chooses to "Stick With" Carter's "Version"

by Lee Green

An article entitled "S&S Stand Behinds Carter" appeared in Publishers Weekly on January 2nd, 2007, and was about CAMERA's ad in the New York Times regarding the many errors in Jimmy Carter's new anti-Israel book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.  CAMERA's ad was an open letter to the book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, urging them to publicly correct the book's many inaccuracies. In the Publishers Weekly article, Adam Rothberg, head of Simon & Schuster's corporate communications, was asked whether S&S will "change the book", and Rothberg replied tellingly: "We're going to stick with the president's version."

Notice he doesn't say that the "president's version" is accurate, just that they're going to "stick with" it.   

New York Times' Ethan Bronner Reviews Carter Book

Deputy Foreign Editor of the New York Times, Ethan Bronner, has written an interesting review of Carter's "strange little book."  Click here to read "Jews, Arabs and Jimmy Carter" (January 7, 2007, NY Times)

Here are some excerpts:

"[Carter] offers a narrative that is largely unsympathetic to Israel. Israeli bad faith fills the pages. Hollow statements by Israel's enemies are presented without comment. Broader regional developments go largely unexamined. In other words, whether or not Carter is right that most Americans have a distorted view of the conflict, his contribution is to offer a distortion of his own...Yasir Arafat is portrayed as someone who disavowed terrorism...The separation barrier that Israel is building along and inside parts of the West Bank is not to stop suicide bombers and other violent attacks. Its 'driving purpose,' Carter says, is 'the acquisition of land...' "

"...The debate about the Israeli occupation 'will shape the future of Israel; it may also determine the prospects for peace in the Middle East - and perhaps the world.' This is an awfully narrow perspective...there are other factors to consider, including that for the most radical leaders of the Muslim world - and their numbers are not dwindling - settling the Israel question does not mean an equitable division of land between Israel and Palestine. It means eliminating Israel..."

"There is a weird scene toward the start of the book...But the episode hints at his tone deafness about Israel and Jews."  [read the whole review to find out what this weird scene entailed.]  

Professor Konnor Rebukes Carter for Condoning Murder and for His Failure to Respond  to Critics' Substantive Objections
Melvin Konnor, a professor of anthropology at Emory University, added his voice to the list of prominent critics of Jimmy Carter's new book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid. Konner expressed his thoughts in a letter to the Carter Center and in an Op-Ed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  In the letter, addressed to Carter Center Executive Director John Hardman, Konner explained why he chose to decline a position on the Carter Center's advisory panel, and urged the Center to distance itself from the former president's "irrevocably tarnished legacy."

Excerpts from the letter:

"...in television interviews I have seen over the past week, President Carter has revealed himself to be so rigid and inflexible in his views that he seems to me no longer capable of dialogue. In an interview with Soledad O'Brien of CNN he failed to address a single one of the criticisms she quoted from various experts in a very serious tone of voice, pointing out that she was not reading the worst of the criticisms; he began laughing inappropriately while she spoke, and when she asked him how he would respond to the criticisms he stated, 'With laughter.' In a number of interviews I have seen and heard him respond to highly specific questions merely by stating again and again in one form or another, 'My book is completely accurate.' This rigidity of thought and complete failure to engage criticisms from much greater experts than me about his numerous and serious errors of commission and omission make it clear to me that an attempt by me to advise him would be pointless and counterproductive. In addition, his repeated public insinuations that the Jews control the media and the Congress - well-worn anti-Semitic slurs that, especially coming from President Carter, present a clear and present danger to American Jews - are offensive to me beyond what I can politely say..."

"...I will call your attention to a sentence on p. 213 that had not stood out for me the first time I read it: 'It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel.'   As someone who has lived his life as a professional reader and writer, I cannot find any way to read this sentence that does not condone the murder of Jews until such time as Israel unilaterally follows President Carter's prescription for peace. This sentence, simply put, makes President Carter an apologist for terrorists and places my children, along with all Jews everywhere, in greater danger..." [emphasis added]

"...Meanwhile, in my own private and modest public capacity as a university professor and writer, I will work very hard in the foreseeable future to help discredit President Carter's biased, intemperate and inflexible mischaracterizations of the reality of Israel, Palestine, terrorism, and the American Jewish community. I will urge all my colleagues and students to do the same..."

Originally Published on 1/8/2007 for CAMERA