Carter and the hypocrites

Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core. (Hannah Arendt)

...Carter has turned self-promotion through scandalous behavior into an art form.

This is exactly how he sold his books, including the one presenting Israel as an apartheid state. A book which revealed... the fundamental hypocrisy which is the basis for the political partisanship concerning Carter. Whoever attacks a president such as Bush for distorting facts in order to push a political goal has no problem accepting Carter's book, which is nothing but a concoction of exaggerations, inventions, distortions and lies. Whoever disagrees with Bush because of the religious faith that serves as the foundation of his political actions has no problem with the same religious motives of Carter's messianism.

... the choice of those who still continue to insist on the need to listen to Carter is based on lies - it is possible to ignore him, protest his manipulative tricks, and still continue to work for true peace between Israel and the Arabs. There is no contradiction.

(Haaretz, Shmuel Rosner )

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Update (Friday): fellow blogger New Centrist weighs in:

The trip would more accurately be described as a terror tour. Consider who Carter is meeting with, high-level officials of Hamas. Hamas, as evidenced by their actions, has no interest in peace. Hamas, as evidenced by their charter, is dedicated to murdering Jews and the destruction of Israel.

While in Cairo, the former president met with former Hamas deputy prime minister Nasser Eddin Shaer. He also gave a speech at the American University decrying IDF actions in Gaza as a “crime” and “atrocity” and an “abomination.” Less than 24 hours later, Hamas terrorists shot and killed 3 Israeli soldiers. Carter is scheduled to meet Hamas leader Khaled Mashel in Damascus on Friday. Mashel is believed responsible for organizing the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit and has expressed that terrorism is the basis of Palestinian politics and the identity of the Palestinian people. Carter is also scheduled to meet with Syrian president Bashar al-Asad.

Israeli officials have reportedly refused Carter entry into the country. Good for them. Hamas is at war with Israel and Carter is clearly more than sympathetic to the Hamas “narrative.” Israel should refuse entry to other self-serving activists like Carter whose ideal of peace in the region means Israeli capitulation and endless concessions to terrorists. Failing to take an enemy at their word is worse than hubris, it’s suicidal.

CN also links to other blogs opining on the subject.

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Snoopy of SJ in top form:

"...Hamas would "definitely not" be prepared for coexistence with Israel should the IDF retreat to its 1967 borders."It can be a temporary solution, for a maximum of 5 to 10 years. But in the end Palestine must return to become Muslim, and in the long term Israel will disappear from the face of the earth."

Oh, and speaking about Mr al-Zahar, let's not forget this:

But we better be quiet: the mega-brain of the Nobel Prize winner is churning out more ideas...

And, the goon's pièce de résistance:

Update: a great (made up, to make sure you don't call CNN) quote by Peter Risdon here.

PIJ Secretary-General Dr. Ramadan Shallah said "We may be a bunch of psychopathic Islamist terrorists, but meeting Carter would be a step too far. The man has no shame. He seems willing to meet every mass murderer on the planet."

Carter's peace overtures simply tug at the heart strings of Sabras, either indigenous, imported or exported.