Jimmy Carter’s $5M Israel Lawsuit

This piece was first published as ‘Jimmy Carter’s $5M Israel Lawsuit’ on Technorati.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is being sued for allegedly defamatory remarks he made Israel.

The ‘historic class action’ has been filed against Carter and his publishers, Simon and Schuster for “deceptions and misrepresentations” in his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

The plaintiffs, represented by American attorney David Schoen of  Alabama and Israeli lawyer, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner,  of Tel-Aviv claim that the book “contained numerous false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised”.

The action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York  seeks compensatory and punitive damages of at least $5M.

The plaintiffs are members of the reading public who claim they bought the book expecting it to reflect an accurate account of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Instead they say, Carter - who presents himself as a Middle-East expert - and his publisher, intentionally presented untrue and inaccurate information and sought to capitalise on the author’s status as a former President to mislead unsuspecting members of the public.

It is alleged that Carter’s critical misrepresentations of Israel “violate New York consumer protection laws, specifically New York General Business Law § 349, which makes it unlawful to engage in deceptive acts in the course of conducting business.

The plaintiffs acknowledge Carter’s right to publish his personal views but insist that he and his publishers broke the law and thus harmed those who purchased the book.

The complaint notes that even some of the ex-president’s closest aides who  had been personally involved in the events described have alleged that the book as untruthful.

But despite the barrage of irrefutable proof showing  the many falsehoods in the book, the defendants have refused to make  corrections.

In a Press Release issued yesterday (03 February 2011), Mr Schoen said:

“It is, indeed, a sad day for all of us as Americans, when a former President demeans the dignity of his office by intentionally misstating critically important facts concerning events of great historic significance and public interest, simply to advance a personal anti-Israel animus and to foster the agenda of the enemies of Israel who pump so much money into the Centre which bears his name.”

Miss Darshan-Leitner, celebrated for her pioneering lawsuits on behalf of victims of terror  added:

“The lawsuit will expose all the falsehoods and misrepresentations in Carter’s book and prove that his hatred of Israel has led him to commit this fraud on the public. He is entitled to his opinions but deceptions and lies have no place in works of history.”

A pdf copy of the complaint is available at

http://www.israpundit.com/archives/33234#more-33234
Technorati Tags: Jimmy Carter,Simon and Schuster,David Schoen,Nitsana Darshan-Leitner,Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

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