So much for Jimmy Carter’s recent brief love affair with Yom Kippur and the Jewish people. America’s most naïve former president – who had some real foreign policy triumphs (and disasters) while in office – is at it again.

The newest anti-Carter complaints come after a speech at an Atlanta conference last week. The peanut farmer turned president accused this country of being “much more attuned to the sensitivities of the Israelis” and of having “yielded excessively to the circumstances in the Holy Land as Israel has confiscated several lands within Palestine,” according to the JTA Wire Service. Likewise, he labeled the Obama administration’s shuttle diplomacy efforts “feeble.”

Heightening disappointment in Mr. Carter is that in December 2009 he publicly sought an al chet—the traditional Yom Kippur prayer seeking God’s forgiveness – due to perceptions that he was anti-Israel. In a letter this week to Mr. Carter, Anti-Defamation League National Director Abe Foxman went so far as to write, “I do not believe further discussions between us will be fruitful. I continue to hope the day will come when you have truly repented of your insensitive views of Israel and the Jewish people.”

But instead of offering a knee jerk response, let’s look at Mr. Carter’s claims. America is indeed more attuned to Israeli concerns, and it’s for valid reasons:

A) both being democracies (meaning, unlike with Arab states, tomorrow’s ruler is bound by today’s treaties);

B) both having shared historical Judeo-Christian values, which gives cultural frames of reference;

C) Israel’s being a stable ally where one can forward position military equipment (in Haifa port) in case of a regional conflict that threatens vital U.S. interests (read: oil and Russian/central Asian wars);

D) Israel’s having an outstanding and western-oriented intelligence operation;

E) and, finally, the bind reflects the domestic electorate’s concerns (indeed, there is a roughly four to one approval among all Americans for Israel over the Palestinians in the conflict, according to successive Gallup Polls).

Now as I’ve written before, Israel can indeed be loose when it comes to taking Palestinian lands for state interests. It’s fair to criticize that, but be specific – such as areas along the security barrier (which is necessary, as the plunge in suicide attacks has shown in the past few years). It cuts up some Palestinian fields. There should be financial compensation and/or new lands granted to these multi-generational farming families. And guess what? Israeli human rights advocates have pushed that issue and the Israeli Supreme Court has forced the barrier to be moved in some locations.

Meanwhile, let’s start a collection to have someone read Mr. Carter the news. Clearly he’s mixed the many reports of tensions between the Obama/Netanyahu administrations over Israel’s East Jerusalem building plans. Meanwhile, U.S. envoy George Mitchell deserves much credit for laboring to create an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.

Not only that Mr. Carter, but the U.S. government and successive Israeli ones keep testing Palestinian intensions with peace offers. No, it’s not easy and there’s zero trust. Still, isn’t it the Israelis who are willing to negotiate without preconditions as the Palestinians refuse to sit down and see where the process goes? (Do it their way – get everything up front first – and there’s no need to talk, now is there?)

A final note: Mr. Carter’s right to criticize Israeli policies should not be questioned, nor do those words brand him an anti-Semite (a label some in our community too casually toss around). Yet, his newest words give strength to the long-held allegations of his naiveté. This conflict needs context and candor in conversation.

But there’s good news for our former president: There are still five plus months until the real Yom Kippur for him to get it right. He has his work cut out for him.