Thursday, January 11, 2007
Fourteen members of the advisory board take a powder.
Meanwhile, Brandeis shows how big it is by having Carter in to do an appearance. Alan Dershowitz has been trying to get in to debate him but that's not going to happen. I say they arrange to have a big birthday cake there for Carter when he walks into the hall, and just as Carter says, "Hey, it's not my birthday," Alan Dershowitz jumps out of the cake. TADAH! Let the debate ensue.
Update: The entire text of the resignation letter and the list of signatories is here.
Update2: Also see: Reform Rabbis Cancel Carter Center Visit
Last month, the Forward has learned, leaders of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, a 1,500-member group representing Reform rabbis, called off a scheduled tour of the Carter Center after the public reaction to Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,†reached a fevered pitch, and an interdenominational group of rabbis expressed disappointment over a meeting with the former president...
I like the idea, but ONLY if Dershowitz is not in a bikini when he comes out of the cake
Reaction from our friends at the Daily Kos: "They did it because they're Jewish".
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/1/11/175915/924/6#c6
Quite frankly, most of the names of those who quit do appear to be Jewish. Not all, but most. I am afraid that the quittings would've made a bigger impression if more of the names weren't Jewish. I hate to say this, but the thought that "it's because they're Jewish" occurred to me, too, even though I'm sympathetic to them.
Also, it should be noted that these were members of the advisory board--not the governing board--of the Carter Center. I understand that the advisory board consists of members from outside academia (the business community, for instance) who help with fundraising for the center.
Regarding the quittings being "mass": Didn't the advisory board originally have 200 members? Fourteen out of 200 is still impressive; an exodus of fourteen people doesn't happen every day. Still, I don't think it qualifies as a "mass" defection. I guess what constitutes "mass" is a matter of opinion. Or wishful thinking.
Carter is afraid to debate Dershowitz because Dershowitz is Jewish.
Carter libels Israel because Israel is Jewish.