Posted on 08/06/2014 3:40:45 AM PDT by markomalley
Before deconstructing Jimmy Carter’s pro-Hamas screed in Foreign Policy, it’s worth putting into context exactly who he’s defending. In 1978, Carter proudly brokered the Camp David Peace Accords that granted the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood vehemently rejected the treaty, ultimately assassinating Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for signing it AND for abandoning efforts to form a Palestinian state.
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Before his death, Sadat issued several warnings about the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that the “most dangerous thing about them are the ideas that they put into the minds of the youth and also for the other political parties that help them…”
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Six years later, the Muslim Brotherhood founded Hamas; that is who Carter is defending.
He writes:
Israelis and Palestinians are still burying their loved ones as Gaza’s third war in six years continues. Since July 8, when this war began, more than 1,600 Palestinian and 65 Israeli lives have been sacrificed. Many in the world are heartbroken in the powerless certainty that more will die, that more are being killed every hour.
This tragedy results from the deliberate obstruction of a promising move toward peace in the region, when a reconciliation agreement among the Palestinian factions was announced in April. This was a major concession by Hamas, in opening Gaza to joint control under a technocratic government that did not include any Hamas members. The new government also pledged to adopt the three basic principles demanded by the Middle East Quartet comprised of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia: nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and adherence to past agreements. Tragically, Israel rejected this opportunity for peace and has succeeded in preventing the new government’s deployment in Gaza.
What Carter intentionally leaves out is that the Palestinian death toll is based on what Hamas says it is. Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer explained that approximately 50% of the Palestinian deaths are militants and a very significant percentage of the remaining deaths are the direct result of Hamas intentionally putting them in harm’s way so that people like Carter could point to the disparity.
Carter then labels a unity government being formed between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as being a ‘major concession by Hamas’. In reality, to paraphrase Sadat, it reflects one party helping the Muslim Brotherhood, which is never a good thing. Yet, Carter chastises Israel for rejecting it.
Carter is essentially advocating for including the Muslim Brotherhood in the treaty process. Based on his negotiations with Israel and Egypt, coupled with what happened to Sadat, Carter’s position is schizophrenic.
He then turns his bemoaning toward Israel’s refusal to negotiate with terrorists:
There must also be an opportunity for the teachers, police, and welfare and health workers on the Hamas payroll to be paid. These necessary requirements for a human standard of living continue to be denied. Instead, Israel blocked Qatar’s offer to provide funds to pay civil servants’ salaries, and access to and from Gaza has been further tightened by Egypt and Israel.
Qatar qualifies as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, though it’s not on the official list. It is a hotbed for Muslim Brotherhood operatives and funds Hamas. Israel doesn’t want to deal with Qatar; Carter wants them to.
There is no humane or legal justification for the way the Israeli Defense Forces are conducting this war. Israeli bombs, missiles, and artillery have pulverized large parts of Gaza, including thousands of homes, schools, and hospitals. More than 250,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinian noncombatants have been killed. Much of Gaza has lost access to water and electricity completely. This is a humanitarian catastrophe.
There is never an excuse for deliberate attacks on civilians in conflict. These are war crimes.
Again, Carter avoids mention of why homes, schools and hospitals were bombed by the IDF and the extreme lengths the IDF went to avoid doing so. The war crimes are being committed by Hamas.
Now comes the moral equivalency argument. Again, when dealing with good vs. evil, anyone who seeks the mantle of moral equivalency is siding with evil:
There is never an excuse for deliberate attacks on civilians in conflict. These are war crimes. This is true for both sides. Hamas’s indiscriminate targeting of Israeli civilians is equally unacceptable. However, three Israeli civilians have been killed by Palestinian rockets, while an overwhelming majority of the 1,600 Palestinians killed have been civilians, including more than 330 children. The need for international judicial proceedings to investigate and end these violations of international law should be taken very seriously.
Hamas is responsible for the deaths of those children by firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel, by housing those rockets in schools, and by forcing civilians back into schools after Israel issues warnings that they will be hit. As Shoebat.com relayed, the IDF revealed that it had confiscated Hamas combat manuals that explained exactly why they do this.
His solution? Carter thinks we should rely on the United Nations:
The U.N. Security Council should focus on what can be done to limit the potential use of force by both sides. It should vote for a resolution recognizing the inhumane conditions in Gaza and mandate an end to the siege. That resolution could also acknowledge the need for international monitors who can report on movements into and out of Gaza as well as cease-fire violations. It should then enshrine strict measures to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. Early discussions have already taken place. The Elders, an international group of elder statesmen of which we are a part, hope these discussions will continue and reach fruition.
As to why that’s an absurdly bad idea, a UN school in Gaza rested atop a tunnel system and was booby-trapped to explode. It did just that and killed three IDF soldiers who were uncovering the tunnels. Putting the UN in charge of anything in Gaza is like putting sharks in charge of the chum.
At the Palestinians’ request, the Swiss government is considering convening an international conference of the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, which enshrine the humanitarian laws of warfare. This could pressure Israel and Hamas into observing their duties under international law to protect civilian populations. We sincerely hope all states — especially those in the West, with the greatest power — attend and live up to their obligations to uphold the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the treatment of populations in occupied territory.
Hamas leaders should all be brought up on charges of war crimes and Israel should be given commendations for going above and beyond to prevent them.
Carter then champions what the assassinated Sadat warned against – political groups supporting the Muslim Brotherhood:
Unity between Fatah and Hamas is currently stronger than it has been for many years. As Elders, we believe this is one of the most encouraging developments in recent years and welcome it warmly. This presents an opportunity for the Palestinian Authority to reassume control over Gaza — an essential first step towards Israel and Egypt lifting the blockade.
Another remedy prescribed by the Hamas apparatchik who formerly held the position of President of the United States is to rely more on the European Union. It’s worth noting that Mohammed Carter recommends doing so at a time when anti-Semitism in Europe is rising like a runaway fever.
Please feel free to read the rest of this propaganda piece but know that Mohammed Carter is doggedly trying to undo perhaps the one good thing he did while in office.
Liberals are just so self-destructive; they just can’t help it.
He gets his presidential pension. Last I heard it’s about $191,000 a year plus a $50,000 annual non-taxable expense account.
The largesse of the American public.
And the idiots that still lionize the pillock.
He is a stupid, stupid man.
I had the misfortune of actually meeting the fool, eons ago, and he is/was detached from reality as that other damned fool that we have in the White outHouse, currently.
He thinks the damn world sits on the edges of their seats, awaiting his next crumb of wisdom to fall off his burnt toast of brilliance, so they may scoop it up and feed the world.
“This sick old scumbag seems to live forever.”
Satan protects his own.
He can’t last much longer... can he?
any dumb ass can grow peanuts.
honest.
And Alan Dershowitz voted for him. And he’d probably vote for him again today.
Well Jimmy, if you support them so much go to Gaza and prove it. Hopefully you’ll be hit by the IDF.
First, the PLO had to be recognized as the political representatives of the “Palestinian People” and given a seat at the U.N. That worked out great for the PLO leadership(Yasser died a wealthy man) but didn’t work out too well for the “Palestinian People”, so now the new PLO, aka Hamass needs to be recognized. Why? So that Abu Abass can also die rich? The solution to the Mid-East is simple. Evacuate Israel and nuke the place. Just to be sure.
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