Former President Jimmy Carter has held a grudge against the Jewish people since their vote helped Ronald Reagan defeat him for a second term in office in 1980, according to an editorial in
The Washington Times, and that grudge is showing itself in his support of Hamas terrorists in the Gaza conflict.
Jewish voters recognized Reagan as the "true friend of Israel," said the editorial, and after that, Carter "made nursing the grudge a full-time job," including writing a book called "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid."
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Earlier this month, Carter, in an article co-written with former Ireland President Mary Robinson for
Foreign Policy, called for Hamas to be officially recognized.
"Only by recognizing [Hamas'] legitimacy as a political actor — one that represents a substantial portion of the Palestinian people — can the West begin to provide the right incentives for Hamas to lay down its weapons," they wrote.
The article, said the Times, is just one example of why Carter gets no respect from President Barack Obama or anyone else.
Carter, who railed against Israeli attacks on Hamas in the article, said that there is "never an excuse for deliberate attacks on civilians in conflict," which The Times ridiculed as a "curious assertion for a man who once boasted of his experience as a 'nukular' engineer, since 'nukular' weapons by definition are designed to kill mostly civilians."
Carter's support of Hamas could turn into a criminal offense, Harvard law professor and legal analyst Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax TV's
"America's Forum" last week.
"Jimmy Carter wants the United States and the European community to recognize Hamas, to legitimate it," said Dershowitz. "It's against the law in the United States, even if you're a former president, it's against the law to provide material support to a listed terrorist organization, and Jimmy Carter's coming awfully close to that line."
Carter and Robinson, in their article, describe Israel's actions, along with Hamas' as "war crimes," saying "Hamas' indiscriminate targeting of Israeli civilians is equally unacceptable."
Only three Israeli civilians have been killed, they wrote, while "an overwhelming majority of the 1,600 Palestinians killed have been civilians."
The Times writes, "Carter is preaching the wrong sermon to the wrong choir. Israel cannot be wished away, either, nor can it be expected to 'co-operate in its own demise.'"
The editorial criticized Carter's casualty report as reflecting a "sophomore's understanding of proportionality, and a deliberate brushing away of the facts."
Hamas is shielding its weaponry with schools and hospitals, the Times says, but "men nurtured in the West" view men who hide behind children and women with contempt.
"This is a principle that the Palestinians flout with an arrogant pride, and one that Mr. Carter seems not to understand," said the editorial.
Carter has become, over the years, "a standard of failure to measure other presidents by" and his words against Israel last week have made him even more of "a pariah even in his own party," according to the editorial.
"Like Barack Obama, he came to office on a sea of discontent and disappointment, chosen by voters desperately hoping for change," the Times wrote. "He cultivated humiliation for the nation and for himself, and the years since have not been kind to him. He continues to infuriate us all."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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