It’s Not Apartheid

Michael Kinsley dismisses as “moronic” Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

[N]o one has yet thought to accuse Israel of creating a phony country in finally acquiescing to the creation of a Palestinian state. Palestine is no Bantustan. Or if it is, it is the creation of Arabs, not Jews. Furthermore, Israel has always had Arab citizens. They are Arabs who were living in what became Israel prior to 1948 and who didn’t leave. They are a bit on display, like black conservatives at a Republican convention. Israel is fortunate that, for whatever reason, most of their compatriots fled. No doubt they suffer discrimination. Nevertheless, they are citizens with the right to vote and so on. There used to be Jews living in Arab nations, but they also fled in 1948 and subsequent years—in numbers roughly equivalent to the Arabs who fled Israel. Now there are virtually no Jews in Arab countries—even in a moderate Arab country like Jordan. How many Jews do you think there will be in the new state of Palestine, when its flag flies over a sovereign nation?

I presume that question is rhetorical.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Tano says:

    It would have been slightly more compelling a critique if he gave any evidence of having read it.

  2. ‘How many Jews do you think there will be in the new state of Palestine, when its flag flies over a sovereign nation?’

    I suspect it would be a negative number as after they rounded up the usual suspect, they would start turning on themselves and killing those just accused of being a Jew.