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What Tom Lantos Told Jimmy Carter

[Jerusalem Post] Thomas A. Dine - Just four months ago, I was with Rep. Tom Lantos in his private office when he received former president Jimmy Carter. Carter came to brief him and a few other House Members about a newly formed group of leaders with international reputations. The purpose of "The Elders," he said, is resolving regional conflicts such as Darfur, Burma, and the Palestinian question. When the former president finished his presentation, Lantos told Carter that he had read his new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict three times. He said he had underlined particular passages; he pointed out substantive differences between the hard cover and paperback editions, objectionable items not being in the latter except for the word "Apartheid" still in the title. He let loose, telling the author that he "sided" with the Palestinians, that he possessed a "subconscious and blinding hostility toward Israel." And because of this "venom," Lantos said, Carter "had totally forfeited" his role as an objective participant in reconciling differences between the two parties to the conflict. The writer, now a senior policy adviser to the Israel Policy Forum, headed AIPAC in 1980-1993.
2008-02-18 01:00:00
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