American Hummus

by Asa Winstanley

As a new contributer this site, I thought that a good way to start would be to go through interesting videos in the backlog of old clips. This one is from CNN back in December 2, 2006 of Jimmy Carter defending his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. It’s still worth watching — a good one for sharing with friends who don’t know the basics of the situation maybe.

I’m not a fan of Jimmy Carter (or politicians in general for that matter), but these days he has, in some respects, began to tell it like it is regarding Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. The furious reaction of the political elite the US to his book — in which it seems he simply tells some basic truths — was instructive.

In the clip he says that “there is zero debate in this country about this issue and that’s what I hope to change.” An admirable and much-needed goal, to be sure. And the good thing about Carter speaking about this issue is that he gets mainstream attention in the US.

I have not read his book, but aparently it is not without its flaws — and not the fake “errors” its Zionists critics allege. Likewise, Carter makes at least one questionable statement in the clip:

“Inside Israel it is a wonderful democracy with everyone treated the same, Arabs and Jews…”

I don’t think Palestinian citizens of Israel would tend to agree with that…