Open letter to Cardozo Board of Overseers published, ZOA calls on Yeshiva University to cancel Carter, what would the Rav say?

Cardozo alumnus Gary Emmanuel ('04) has written an open letter to the Board of Overseers of Yeshiva University's Cardozo law school calling for the cancellation of Jimmy Carter's appearance at the school on Wednesday.

One can only assume that by taking the time to serve on the Board, you take great pride in your affiliation with such a reputable institution and one whose mission is, in part, to “bring wisdom to life by combining the finest contemporary academic education with the timeless teachings of Torah.” While we all may interpret those words slightly differently, Jimmy Carter is anathema to the aspirations of the Jewish people and the survival of the State of Israel. Honoring him at a bedrock of the American Jewish community does not bring wisdom to life or combine a fine education with the teachings of Torah. Honoring Jimmy Carter makes the statement that, notwithstanding the empty claims by the administration that the Journal’s choice does not necessarily represent the views of the institution, this individual is someone deserving of recognition.  Awarding this honor to someone with Carter’s anti-Israel record that includes whitewashing the genocidal aims of Hamas, mainstreaming the notion that Israel is a racist state, and validating a nuclear Iran is quite simply abhorrent.

While the Yeshiva University and Cardozo administrators are hiding behind the veil of First Amendment rights and academic freedom, as proud members of the Cardozo community, we beseech you to do the right thing and make your voices heard.  The issue at hand is not one requiring righteous people to worship the false idols of free speech at the expense of Jewish values and principles.  As we end our observance of Yom HaShoah, we must face the lessons that well-intentioned European Jews also respected the rights of their fellow citizens to voice ugly thoughts and protest their very existence.  But silence is complicity and “Never Again” requires learning from the lessons of the tragedies that befell the Jewish people. Antisemitism, whitewashing terrorists who seek to destroy the Jewish homeland, and lies and distortions based on personal and dangerous biases are all qualities that define the post-presidential Jimmy Carter. Yeshiva University and Cardozo should not give a platform to his slander while at the same time granting credibility to his disingenuous and repugnant positions.

Along with the honor and pride that emanates from your role as Board members it is your individual responsibilities to ensure that the school’s faculty and administrators make decisions that represent the values that you wish to not only endow to the student body but also those that you wish to see reflected in the community.  The extensive media attention that this award has drawn has been entirely negative and the Board bears the ultimate responsibility for any impact that this will have on the school’s reputation both in the near future and the long-term.  Alumni will not continue to support an institution that so blatantly ignores the principles on which it was founded and which so willingly and callously slaps in the face the people who form the very foundation of its future success.

The Zionist Organization of America has also issued a press release calling on Cardozo to cancel the event. I received it by email.

ZOA Calls On Cardozo Law School To Rescind Decision To Give Award To Israel-Bashing Jimmy Carter

April 9, NEW YORK -- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has called upon the Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School to rescind its decision to bestow an award upon former President Jimmy Carter. This Wednesday, April 10, the Cardozo Law School, which is a part of New York City's Yeshiva University (YU), is to bestow its International Advocate for Peace Award from the upon Carter. The ZOA has pointed to President Carter's repellant, decades-long record as an Israel-basher and promoter of Israel's most vicious enemies, including Hamas, which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the global murder of Jews (Article 7), in calling upon Cardozo to rescind its decision to award Carter.

In a letter to YU Dean, Professor Matthew Diller, and YU President, Professor Richard Joel, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein wrote:

"We are deeply appalled that any institution, but especially a Jewish one like Cardozo, would seek to honor an Israel-basher like Jimmy Carter. Carter was the author in 2007 of a book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, in which he wrote the following astounding and reprehensible passage: 'It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel' (p. 213). In the words of the New York Post at the time, 'Carter isn't calling on the Palestinians to give up terror and murder now as a way to convince Israel they are serious about peace. Rather, he says they can wait until they've achieved their goals at the bargaining table. No need, says Carter, to give up terrorism until then... he flatly condones mass murder' ('Jimmy for Terror,' New York Post, January 15, 2007).

"I would also like to draw your attention to the following:

• The publication of Carter's book impelled 14 board members of the Carter Center to resign. 
• His Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, once revealed that if Carter had won a second term, he intended to sell Israel down the river. 
• In The Unfinished Presidency, Douglas Brinkley wrote, 'There was no world leader Jimmy Carter was more eager to know than Yasir Arafat,' whom he befriended already in 1990, three years before Arafat supposedly accepted Israel's right to exist and signed the Oslo Accords.
• Carter was awarded a prize from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, whose Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up has promoted Holocaust denial.
• Carter has met numerous times with leaders of the terror group Hamas whitewashing their genocidal goals and undermining U.S. efforts to isolate Hamas.
• Last year, Carter blamed Israel for exodus of Christians from the region.

"It would be unconscionable and grotesque if an honored Jewish university, of all places, now gives a platform to Jimmy Carter, who has been prominent in the campaign to demonize Israel and helps legitimize his pro-violence and pro-terror views. 

"Carter should be shunned by universities, organizations, media, synagogues and churches and not granted any sort of platform to peddle his lies and hate propaganda. 

The ZOA has also applauded the Coalition of Concerned Cardozo Alumni (CCCA)'s efforts to have Cardozo cancel the event and has also provided a detailed list of Carter's infamous words and deeds regarding Israel and the Middle East.

The ZOA urges people to contact the Dean of Cardozo and President of YU to urge them to cancel the award to Jimmy Carter: 

Professor Matthew Diller, Dean of Cardozo: Ph: (212) 790 0310; E: mdiller@yu.edu 

Professor Richard Joel, President of Yeshiva University: ph: (212) 960 5300; E: president@yu.edu.  

For Yeshiva University of all places to bestow an award on the anti-Semitic Jimmy Carter is a disgrace. At the very moment that Yeshiva will be honoring Carter, here in Israel, the 20th yahrtzeit (anniversary of the date of death) of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik zt"l will be observed. Here's how Rabbi Soloveichik reacted to another attempt to honor an anti-Semite at Yeshiva. It is highly unlikely that Rabbi Soloveichik would approve of honoring Carter.