Jimmy Carter - Myopic Failure

Jimmy Carter is up to his old self righteous, moralizing self again. I don't like to throw the words anti-semite around, people get tired of hearing jews casting themselves as victims, but surely he has never dealt with Israelis with the same understanding and evenhandedness that you would expect from a person in his position as a president and former president.

But then again, this is a man who tried to appease the soviets and cozy up to Kim il Jong, Tito, Marcos, Saddam Hussein and a murderer's row of brutal dictators. He lionized Arafat and Assad and had a philosophy of glossing over anyone's sins as long as they weren't "those people".

He is in the mideast now meeting with Hamas, a group largely financed by Iran and dedicated to the destruction of Israel. He is marginalizing Fatah, a once feared organization that actually looks good compared to the Islamic Hamas and is demanding that the Israelis tear down the wall and stop the blockade around Gaza. Now never mind that every time the Israelis have opened the checkpoints, they have become magnets for suicide bombers and attacks on the Israeli population and military.

Hamas suicide bombers have killed hundreds of Israelis in the past several years. Israeli blood is immaterial to Carter and he clings to a naive faith that Hamas, an extremist fundamentalist islamic terrorist group, is now ready to play nice. He is subverting legitimate diplomatic efforts in the middle east with his unilateral and unbalanced entreaties.

Israel has been down this road before with Hamas, who have repeatedly stated that they will never put down their arms or surrender their right to "legitimate resistance." They are demanding that Israel return to pre 1967 borders, and surrender land that Israel appropriated after thwarting simultaneous attacks by it's neighbors.

Now Carter is dismissing the role of Israel as a jewish state and homeland because 20% of its citizens are not jewish. Why does he not apply the same standard to the twenty seven countries where Islam is the official state religion, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia? Where a person is not allowed to change their religion under penalty of death, in some cases. Both Jordan and Saudi Arabia prohibit jews from even living in their country. Only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, recognize Israel's right to exist.

Our former president is not an honest broker. Carter has never showed remorse after terrorist or rocket attacks against Israel. He refuses to acknowledge Hamas' brutal history and is now demanding that they be taken off the international terrorist list. With no assurances that Hamas will not continue to launch attacks on Israel. Ahmed Youseff, the Hamas Deputy Foreign Minister said this week that recognizing Israel is completely unacceptable. According to Hamas ideology, there is no room for a jewish state in an Islamic middle east.

As I have said before, the plight of the palestinians is painful and tragic. But much of it has been self inflicted. As once said about Arafat, they never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Israel is not blameless, they need to halt illegitimate settlement building. As the country has drifted to the right and become more religious, Israel has become less sensitive to the brutal dehumanizing conditions of life in Gaza and the West Bank. The caldron of anger eventually boils over, and scorches both peoples.

Jimmy Carter showed long ago that he lacked the objectivity to be a fair arbiter. I remember reading the Blood of Abraham, his book on his attempts to forge a peace between Begin and Sadat almost thirty years ago, and being struck by the continual lavish praise he continually foisted on Sadat, and his inability to say anything positive about the jewish leader. Perhaps as a baptist minister, he can not square the existence of Israel with the concept of christian salvation and the return of the messiah. I get the feeling that he never, in his famous heart of hearts, met a jewish person that he either liked or trusted.

Carter has long complained about jewish control of the media and jewish intimidation. In March, 1980, with falling re-election numbers and a loss of credibility with the american jewish population he reportedly told his top consultants that if he got re-elected he would **ck the jews. He has repeatedly dismissed any criticism of his views by referring to the jewish authors in ad hominem attacks.

If he has his way, Israel will burn on the pyre of broken promises and ultimately Carter will disavow all responsibility for the results. Hamas will say that they never agreed to stop their aggression, and that their ultimate aim has always been to drive the Israelis into the sea. For the sake of all parties, Jimmy Carter needs to retire to his peanut farm and get off the world stage. Fortunately, he has zero credibility domestically or internationally so his pandering to dark forces in Gaza, Syria and Iran will have little effect. Our country floundered under his reign. He is an embarrassment who needs to understand that his time has passed, that Israel will never leave itself open to the national suicide of living next to a Hamas led, armed neighbor and graciously leave before he causes further damage.