I said I wanted to spark debate. I didn't say I wanted to actually debate

Jimmy Carter has turned down a proposed debate with Alan Dershowitz about his new book:

Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz said he agreed with a trustee’s suggestion to invite Carter last month, if Carter were willing to debate one of his most outspoken critics, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.

Carter, president from 1977-1981, rejected the idea. To Carter, the episode was proof that many in the United States were unwilling to hear an alternative view on what he says is the most taboo foreign-policy issue in the United States -- Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

But others say it shows Carter himself is unwilling to debate his own best -- selling book, which has sparked allegations of errors and omissions, charges of anti-Israeli bias, and protesters at his book signings.

"President Carter said he wrote the book because he wanted to encourage more debate. Then why won’t he debate?" Dershowitz said.

[...]

"I don’t want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz," Carter said. ‘‘There is no need to for me to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine."

Why not? Dershowitz didn't have a problem with it.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at December 16, 2006 11:35 AM