The Boston Globe says former President Jimmy Carter received “multiple ovations” and “loud applause” at Brandeis yesterday. Of the 1,700 audience members, 200 wore “Pro Israel, Pro Peace” buttons, David Abel and James Vaznis report.

“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,” Carter said to a hushed audience at the school, which has a predominantly Jewish student body, referring to the reaction to his book.
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At Brandeis, he spoke for about 15 minutes, then fielded screened questions from students for roughly 45 minutes.
In response to a question, Carter apologized for a sentence in his book that he acknowledged seemed to justify terrorism by saying that suicide bombings should end when Israel accepts the goals of the road map to peace with Palestinians.
“That sentence was worded in a completely improper and stupid way,” Carter said. “I’ve written my publishers to change that sentence immediately in future editions of the book. I apologize to you personally and to everyone here.”
But he defended the use of the word apartheid in his book title.
“I realize that this has caused great concern in the Jewish community,” he said. “The title makes it clear that the book is about conditions and events in the Palestinian territory and not in Israel. And the text makes clear on numerous occasions that the forced separation and the domination of Arabs by Israelis is not based on race.”
As the audience was silent, he spoke of roads Palestinians could not use and of the more than 500 checkpoints in the tiny West Bank.
He suggested that a group of Brandeis professors and students visit the occupied territories for a few days and meet with leaders and private citizens “to determine if I have exaggerated or incorrectly described the plight of the Palestinians. “

Carter delivered a few crowd-pleasing quips: he said the only speech more exciting than the Brandeis lecture was his inaugural address; and on debating critic Alan Dershowitz, “the former president said to loud applause: ‘I didn’t think Brandeis needed a Harvard professor to come’ and tell them how to think.”
Half the audience stayed for Dershowitz’s rebuttal, the Globe reports - although judging by the quotes they used, it was not a particularly forceful rebuttal: “Had he written a book similar to what he said on stage, I don’t believe there would have been much controversy…We are not that far apart in our views.”
The article ends with an array of student opinion:

Jake Sebrow, 22, a senior majoring in politics, said he was impressed by Carter’s talk and supported his message of peace, but still disagreed with a lot of what he said.
“I think he showed how to go about creating a dialogue,” Sebrow said.
Sara Hammershleg, 19, a freshman wearing a “Pro Israel, Pro Peace” button, was upset that there hadn’t been a debate, that the questions were screened, and students couldn’t ask follow-ups.
“I wish he could have been challenged more,” she said.
But Nadhava Palikapitiya, 30, a graduate student from Sri Lanka, said Carter’s message was on the mark.
“I agree with him 150 percent, that people have to try to look at this debate objectively,” he said, expressing support for Carter.