The worst president of the 20th Century is back. (James Buchanan nails down Worst President of the19th Century; Carter only gave away other peoples' countries.) I had a chance to leaf through his new screed, Beyond the White House, at Costco, and within about 30 seconds found three examples of his trademark dishonesty, where Jews are involved.
First, he takes credit for expanding Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union to 50,000 in 1979. True, that many Jews left, but the issue was really forced by the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the 1974 Trade Act, Section 402, which he opposed at the time. The Soviets only let 50,000 Jews out because they wanted to clean up their image before the Olympics, kind of like the Chinese starting an anti-sptting campaign.
Second, he claims that Israel's security fence is intended to surround the Palestinians in the West Bank, "as in Gaza." He "discovered" this on a 2004 trip to the country. Of course, Israel has since completely withdrawn from Gaza. I'm sure this fact is mentioned elsewhere in the book, because Carter's ultimate goal is to repeat that success by having Israel withdraw from Israel.
On that score, Carter finds much to praise about Palestinian democracy, noting that "all Palestinian elections are models of peacefulness, honesty, and orderliness." Apparently the killing before and after the actual ballotting doesn't count. You know, "unraveling of public order," and all that.
