What Happened to Jimmy Carter? - with Ken Stein

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Jan 10, 2025

Ken Stein, a close confidante of Jimmy Carter and a former director of the Carter Center, discusses Carter's complex legacy in the Middle East. They delve into Carter's game-changing support for a Palestinian state and his role in the Camp David Accords. Stein reveals how Carter's initial peace efforts transitioned into controversial stances that embraced Hamas's narrative. The conversation also highlights the challenges of Middle Eastern diplomacy and the paradoxes in Carter's foreign policy, offering insights into how history shapes current events.

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ANECDOTE

Carter's Jewish Legacy

At the funeral, Stu Eisenstadt, a close advisor, praised Carter's creation of the Holocaust Museum and hosting a Shabbat dinner at Camp David.
He highlighted Carter's pride in the Camp David Accords as his most significant achievement.

ANECDOTE

Carter's Early Mideast Views

Carter's Middle East interest stemmed from his Bible study, faith, and belief in conflict resolution, influenced by his Southern upbringing.
His focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict evolved later, influenced by advisors like Zbigniew Brzezinski.

ANECDOTE

Carter's 1973 Israel Trip

In 1973, Governor Carter toured Israel, visiting Christian holy sites in a state-provided Mercedes station wagon.
This trip, described in Lawrence Wright's book, made the Bible's locations tangible for Carter.

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Yesterday in Washington D.C., former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s funeral service was held at the National Cathedral.

The former president’s post-presidential legacy has had a lasting impact on today’s Middle East. President Carter was known for brokering the Egypt-Israel peace treaty between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, which has lasted over four decades. However, he was also the first national leader of his stature to openly embrace Hamas, to accuse Israel of “apartheid”, and to legitimize Hamas’s slaughtering of Jews through suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism, during and following the Second Intifada.

How did President Carter go from an engaged diplomat working for peace between Israel and Egypt to championing Hamas and its narrative of Israeli “apartheid”?

To discuss the paradox of President Carter when it comes to Israel, and his impact on current day events in the Middle East, our guest is Ken Stein.

Dr. Kenneth W. Stein is Emeritus Emory Professor of Middle Eastern History and Israel studies where he taught from 1977-2024. Early in the 1980s, he led the Middle East Program of the Carter Center, which included multiple trips to the region with the Carters, writing a book with him, and providing monthly analyses to the former president. In 1998, Ken established the first Israel Studies Center in North America and founded the Center for Israel Education in 2008.

Pertinent to this interview, are his 1999 publication, Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for Arab-0Israeli Peace and a personal collection of the hundreds of hours of conversations he had with Carter over a twenty year span. He is also the author with Ambassador Samuel Lewis, “Making Peace Among Arabs and Israelis: Lessons from Fifty Years of Negotiating Experience”, https://www.amazon.com/Making-peace-among-Arabs-Israelis/dp/B002X78MGW [amazon.com]

Book discussed in this episode: https://tinyurl.com/4h7pmwzf

Recent article by Ken Stein: https://m.jpost.com/international/article-835320