NBC’s Andrea Mitchell stated the following on the “Today” show Friday morning just before David Gregory interviewed the former president (video available here): “To millions, he is an icon, Nobel Prize winner for his Middle East peacemaking, best selling author of 21 books. But his latest, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is creating a storm of criticism.”
After a brief quote from Carter’s speech at Brandeis University Tuesday evening, Mitchell continued: “The controversy starts with the book's title, deliberately provocative. But critics say the word 'apartheid' is a smear against Israel.”
Later, Mitchell addressed what most in the media have mysteriously shied away from in their reports on this subject:
Mitchell: "But then 14 advisors and contributors to his Carter Center quit in protest, including a former co-author."
Kenneth Stein, former Jimmy Carter Co-Author: "Carter's book is full of omissions, it's incomplete, it's inaccurate, it tends to cleanse the policy and politics of Hamas."
Martin Indyk, former ambassador to Israel: "This is a case of, of Carter having gone off the deep end."
After addressing a particular sentence in the book that has drawn considerable ire, Mitchell strongly concluded her report:
Other critics say the book's flaws go beyond that one sentence and that the former president, responsible for so much Middle East history, is now misstating it. Jimmy Carter said he wanted to provoke a debate, and he has.
Nicely done, Andrea. What follows is a full transcript of this report as transcribed by the MRC’s Justin McCarthy.
Andrea Mitchell: “To millions, he is an icon, Nobel Prize winner for his Middle East peacemaking, best selling author of 21 books. But his latest, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is creating a storm of criticism."
Former President Jimmy Carter: "This is the first time that I've ever been called a liar, and a bigot, and an anti-Semite, and a coward, and a plagiarist."
Mitchell: "The controversy starts with the book's title, deliberately provocative. But critics say the word 'apartheid' is a smear against Israel."
Unidentified Man: "By using this word, you're implying that Israelis are racist and at the same time showing prejudice against them."
Carter: "A minority of Israelis, not a majority but a minority of Israelis, is motivated in doing this by the greed for Palestinian land and not for racism at all."
Mitchell: "For weeks, Carter was defiant."
Carter: "What is completely, almost completely, unacceptable in this country for any public official to criticized the policies of Israel."
Mitchell: "But then 14 advisors and contributors to his Carter Center quit in protest, including a former co-author."
Kenneth Stein, former Jimmy Carter Co-Author: "Carter's book is full of omissions, it's incomplete, it's inaccurate, it tends to cleanse the policy and politics of Hamas."
Martin Indyk, former ambassador to Israel: "This is a case of, of Carter having gone off the deep end."
Mitchell: "So now Carter has apologized for one sentence in the book that seemed to sanction suicide bombings as a legitimate means of political protest."
Carter: "That sentence was worded in a completely improper and stupid way."
Mitchell: "Other critics say the book's flaws go beyond that one sentence and that the former president, responsible for so much Middle East history, is now misstating it. Jimmy Carter said he wanted to provoke a debate, and he has. For Today Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington."
