Carter to Hamas' rescue

One of the very few benefits of Israel's tragically misguided gamble in withdrawing from the Gaza Strip has been the way the terrorist group Hamas has fulfilled expectations that it would not accept land for peace.

Most of the civilized world has recognized the true nature of Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups as a result of Israel's foolish unilateral decision to withdraw any Jewish presence – civilian and military – from Gaza.

Some of us predicted the sacrifice by Israel would be matched with more terrorist violence by the Arabs – that the move would be perceived as weakness by Jerusalem.

Those predictions have been realized in spades, as Hamas has directed unrelenting rocket attacks on Jewish civilians in southern Israel from their new perch.

But just as the true nature of these fiends in Gaza is on display for the whole world to see, and while Hamas is being isolated as a terrorist force that cannot be reasoned with, former President Jimmy Carter rides to the rescue – not of Israeli civilians under siege, but of the Hamas aggressors.

Ahmed Yousuf, the chief political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed prime minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, told WND: "Carter can achieve something no one else can. He is open-minded and has a very noble cause to come and meet with all people."

Open-minded?

If Jimmy Carter were any more open-minded, his brains would fall out – if, indeed, he has any.

You might think a former president best known for pulling the Persian rug out from under the shah of Iran and rolling out the red carpet for the takeover of that country by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini might be more circumspect about embracing anti-Jewish, anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-Western Middle East terrorists 30 years later.

But that kind of expectation would only be appropriate if Jimmy Carter were a lucid, rational, moral agent. He has proven once again he is not.

Carter, instead, like so many of his fellow Democratic Party leaders, only seems comfortable when he is undercutting his own country's national security, demeaning America's role in the world and, particularly, blaming the Jewish state for all of the problems in the Middle East.

It should be noted that Carter's friends and beneficiaries in Iran provide much of the support for Hamas' bloodlust toward Jewish civilians. It should also be noted that Carter's friends and beneficiaries in Iran remain strategic allies with his hosts in Syria. Apparently, Carter doesn't believe he has yet done enough to throw the entire world into conflict by siding with the sworn enemies of America and Israel.

It's an amazing and mortifying spectacle to behold.

In another era, a former president who acted so recklessly might face treason charges when he returned. Indeed, he should. But, of course, he won't. His treacherous actions won't be punished at all – paving the way for more outrageous behavior in the future by him, other ex-presidents and other private citizens who have no business meddling in America's foreign affairs.

Even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who, like Carter, has been a pushover for the terrorists and terrorist states of the Middle East, rebuked Carter for his mission.

"I find it hard to understand what is going to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is, in fact, the impediment to peace," Rice said.

I'll tell you what's going to be gained – more Jewish blood. At some point, we have to recognize the obvious: Jimmy Carter hates Israel, he hates America and he is still pursuing some kind of payoff from the oil powers of the Middle East for doing their dirty work for them.

In 1979, he was thanked for his efforts on behalf of the Iranian revolution by the takeover of the U.S. Embassy – an action that sealed his fate as a disastrous one-term president.

Some people never learn. Appeasement of Hamas will never lead to peace. Just ask the Israelis – and any other sane, objective observer of the Middle East over the past two years.