The Carter Insanities Never Cease

How in the world can former President Jimmy Carter even begin to compare the Rwandan genocide (more than 800,000 killed and slaughtered in a 90 day period while the world looked on without so much as lifting a finger) to what the Palestinians are going through? Yet, that's exactly what he said:

SHUSTER: Welcome back to HARDBALL. We‘re back with the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter. His new book is called “Palestine: Peace rMDNM_Not Apartheid.” President Carter, why did you use the word ‘apartheid‘ in the book‘s title?

CARTER: Let‘s look at the entire title, if you don‘t mind. The first word is Palestine, which involves the land that belongs to the Palestinians, not the Israelis. I didn‘t refer to Israel, because there‘s no semblance of anything relating to apartheid within the nation of Israel.

And I also emphasized the word ‘not‘ -- that is, peace, and not apartheid. That is what I hope to accomplish with this book, is sort of move to that goal. But there‘s no doubt that within the Occupied Territories—Palestinian land—that there is a horrendous example of apartheid. The occupation of Palestinian land, the confiscation of that land that doesn‘t belong to Israel, the building of settlements on it, the colonization of that land, and then the connection of those isolated but multiple settlements—more than 200 of them—with each other by highways, on which Palestinians can‘t travel and quite often where Palestinians cannot even cross.

So the persecution of the Palestinians now, under the occupying territories—under the occupation forces—is one of the worst examples of human rights deprivation that I know. And I think it‘s—

SHUSTER: Even worse, though, than a place like Rwanda?

CARTER: Yes. I think—yes. You mean, now?

SHUSTER: Yes.

CARTER: Yes.
SHUSTER: The oppression now of the Israelis—of the Palestinians by the Israelis is worse than the situation in Africa like the oppression of Rwanda and the civil war?

CARTER: I‘m not going back into ancient history about Rwanda, but right now, the persecution of the Palestinians is one of the worst examples of human rights abuse I know, because the Palestinians—

SHUSTER: You‘re talking about right now, you‘re not talking about say, a few years ago.

CARTER: I‘m not talking about ancient history, no.

SHUSTER: Rwanda wasn‘t ancient history; it was just a few years ago.

CARTER: You can talk about Rwanda if you want to. I want to talk about Palestine. What is being done to the Palestinians now is horrendous in their own territory, by the occupying powers, which is Israel.

They‘re taken away all the basic human rights of the Palestinians, as was done in South Africa against the blacks. And I make it very plain in this book that the apartheid is not based on racism, as it was in South Africa. But it‘s based on the desire, of a minority of Israelis to acquire land that belongs to the Palestinians and to retain that land, and then to exclude the Palestinians from their own property and subjugate them, so that they can‘t arise and demonstrate their disapproval of being robbed of their own property. That‘s what‘s happening in the West Bank.

And the people in this country, in America, never know about this, they never discuss this, there‘s no debate about it, there‘s no criticism of Israel in this country. And in Israel, there is an intense debate about the issues in this book. In this country, no.

Jimmy Carter is a fool if he thinks the situations are comparable or even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence. The Israelis no longer occupy Gaza, and yet the Palestinians are engaging in a war with Israel - launching missiles into Israel despite a so called ceasefire that didn't even last 24 hours (though the media continues to call it a shaky truce). Palestinians have had civil administrative control over much of the West Bank, and all they've done is squander every opportunity. Israelis can give 95% of the West Bank to Palestinians in addition to all of Gaza, and it would not be enough. Getting back all of Jerusalem would not be enough. The right of return would not be enough. The Palestinians will not be satisfied unless and until Israel is destroyed. That's according to the leaders of Hamas - the government of the Palestinians. That's according to Fatah, and it's part and parcel of the Palestinian Authority. Look at the maps produced by the PA. The final maps do not include Israel - it's all a Palestinian state.

Carter conveniently ignores the history and the ongoing terrorism. Israelis provide Palestinians living in Israel the right to vote; they have seats in the Knesset and are entitled to the rights of all Israelis. Indeed, Israeli Arabs do not have to serve in the Israeli Army, which means that they actually have superior rights. They can own land and engage in business. Yet, a Jew living in Gaza would have no such rights. He or she would be lynched if they tried to buy land, start and operate a business or otherwise engage in daily life. Carter also ignores a fact that would completely undermine the entirety of his argument: Palestinians were formerly Egyptians and Jordanians. Until 1967, Gaza was part of Egypt and the West Bank and East Jerusalem were part of Transjordan. Until 1948, Israel was part of Mandate Palestine which also included Transjordan. Yet, Israel is the only nation on the planet that must cede land gained in conflict to satisfy the demands of the side that has repeatedly lost the conflict to annihilate Israel. Is this logical? Is this rational? Yet, it was embodied within UN SCR 242 and 338, which formed the basis of land for peace.

The handover of Gaza to the Palestinians shows the farce that land for peace is when one side does not wish for peace. Since 2005, the Palestinians have tried every method conceivable to attack Israel from Gaza. Suicide bombers. Truck and car bombers. Rockets. Tunnels and sappers. They have turned Gaza in to an armed camp for attacking Israel.

Israelis have a right to defend themselves from terrorists who also happen to comprise the entire Palestinian Authority. Going after the terrorists before they are able to kill Israelis is within the rights of a state defending itself from such an existential threat. Yet Carter doesn't think this is a threat at all.

HT: Babbazee at LGF