Before its release, ex-president’s book evoking Mideast apartheid could harm Democrats’ Jewish support.
James D. Besser -- The Jewish Week
It’s a word that enrages Israel’s supporters around the world -- and it’s right in the middle of the title of a new book by former President Jimmy Carter, whose “Palestine Peace, Not Apartheid” is due on bookstands Nov. 14.
Use of the word -- apartheid -- and some of the book’s content are quickly leaking out, and Jewish Democrats were scrambling this week to limit the impact on closely fought congressional races only weeks away.
Matthew Dorf, a Democratic consultant who spearheads the party’s Jewish outreach said that Carter’s criticisms of Israel are old news, unlikely to sway a Jewish electorate that shows every sign of maintaining its traditional allegiance to the Democrats.
“That Jimmy Carter does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel or on the Middle East is something we’ve been saying for a decade,” he said. “Carter’s view of Israel is not shared by a single leader in the Democratic Party.”
But Kean University political scientist Gilbert Kahn said that Carter’s long record of hostile comments about Israel could have a political impact.
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