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Friday April 27, 2007

Jews wary of Carter speech at Berkeley

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

“Jimmy — you’re not helping.”

That’s the message members of the Jewish community hope to impart to former President Jimmy Carter, who swings through U.C. Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on Wednesday, May 2 during his national book tour.

While Carter has repeatedly professed a hope to inspire dialogue, local Jews say that even the title of his book — “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” — is more likely to inspire acrimony.

“Obviously, we’re profoundly disappointed that he’s coming. We don’t think that he brings anything to the conversation,” said Gordon Gladstone, acting executive director of Berkeley Hillel.

“He has a perfect right to be here,” Gladstone said. “The university has a perfect right to host him, and the university has an imperative to expose people to a wide range of ideas. We just don’t believe President Carter will bring anything to the conversation — and will, in fact, damage the conversation.”

In addition to explicitly comparing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa (a comparison spelled out on the front cover for those who don’t even bother opening Carter’s book), critics in the Jewish community have accused the former president of repeatedly getting his facts wrong, always to Israel’s detriment.

Gladstone said Hillel members plan to hold a press conference prior to Carter’s speech in front of Zellerbach. He acknowledged that, with pro- and anti-Israel forces likely to congregate en masse on lower Sproul Plaza, the event could turn into a classic Berkeley shout-a-thon. At the same time, he said, Jews have an obligation to make their statement about Carter and his book.

“I think there are people on campus and, to a large degree off campus, who seek to use an event like this to further their own agenda,” he said. “Our goal is to make very clear that the vast majority of the Jewish community is not interested in fanning the flames or serving the very particular agenda [of] this event.”

Jonathan Bernstein, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, expressed disappointment that U.C. Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgenau has expressed great enthusiasm over the former president’s visit.

“Of course it is a rare privilege for students to hear directly from a former president, and no one I have spoken to objects to his appearance as such,’’ Bernstein wrote in a letter to the chancellor.

“Nonetheless, several Berkeley alumni and faculty who contacted me were concerned that in your April 18th email you indicated that you were pleased that President Carter would be speaking about his latest book, ‘Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,’” he continued. “Many felt that the university could have supported the students who invited him to speak without also appearing to endorse the message in his book.”

Carter was invited by U.C. Berkeley students, and the event is co-sponsored by the Associated Students of the University of California and the campus. Attendance at the free event is limited to Berkeley students, faculty and staff. Carter will sign copies of his book prior to the 4:30 p.m. speech.

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