Blog : Philosémitisme

L'ancien Président des Etats-Unis Jimmy Carter a rendu hommage à Israël ("we must recognize Israel's achievements under difficult circumstances") et présenté ses excuses ("Al Het") à la communauté juive pour des paroles ou actes qui auraient pu avoir pour effet la stigmatisation d'Israël et de la communauté juive ("we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel [...] I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so").

Jimmy Carter, qui se distingue depuis plusieurs années par une hostilité très médiatisée à l'encontre d'Israël allant jusqu'à publier un ouvrage au titre accusateur Palestine : la paix, pas l'apartheid, semble donc vouloir tourner la page.

Abraham Foxman, président de l'Anti-Defamation League, tout en restant prudent, s'est réjoui du message adressé par le Président Carter à la communauté juive et espère qu'elle annonce le début de la réconciliation.

Source: article de Ron Campeas dans JTA ("Carter offers Jewish community ?Al Het'")

In a letter released exclusively to JTA, the former U.S. president sent a seasonal message wishing for peace between Israel and its neighbors, and concluded: "We must recognize Israel's achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so."

"Al Het" refers to the Yom Kippur prayer asking God forgiveness for sins committed against Him. In modern Hebrew it refers to any plea for forgiveness.

Carter has angered some U.S. Jews in recent years with writings and statements that place the burden of peacemaking on Israel, that have likened Israel's settlement policies to apartheid, and that have blamed the pro-Israel lobby for inhibiting an evenhanded U.S. foreign policy.

Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, welcomed the statement, calling it the "beginning of reconciliation."

"We welcome any statement from a significant individual such as a former president who asks for Al Het," Foxman said. "To what extent it is an epiphany, time will tell. There certainly is hurt which needs to be repaired."