Jimmy Carter made a whirlwind tour of the Middle East between June 2 and 17, 2009. He visited Syria Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, and met with Bashar Assad in Damascus, and in Gaza with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. He had not a word of criticism for either leader. He also met with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority and of Israel, of whom he was most critical. More on Carter’s sympathies and antipathies can be found here: “Carter’s legacy: A misguided trip to meet Assad and Hamas in 2009 – analysis,” by Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, December 30, 2024:
US president Jimmy Carter’s death has resulted in much praise and critique for his policies and views. While many have praised his post-presidency role in advancing humanitarian causes, others have critiqued him for his role during his presidency when Iran fell to the Islamic Revolution….
One particular trip to the region stands out. Between June 2 and 17, 2009, he visited the Middle East and wrote a report for the Carter Center about the trip. The report can be found online and is titled “Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to Lebanon, Syria, Israel, West Bank, and Gaza – June 2-17, 2009.”
The trip took place during an important time, after Operation Cast Lead and as Lebanese elections were happening. Lebanon had gone through momentous changes. Hezbollah assassinated Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri on February 14, 2005 and the Syrian regime had withdrawn from Lebanon in the wake of the killing and this led to a major push for changes in Lebanon after years of being occupied by Syria….
Carter had said in April 2009 that the US and Syria were close to restoring ties. He appeared hopeful on this issue. US senator John Kerry, who would play a key role in the Obama administration, met Assad in 2006 and again in 2010. Nancy Pelosi, the powerful Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, met Assad in 2007.
It was in this context that Carter went to Syria in 2009 and then to the West Bank, Israel, and Gaza. The wind was blowing in Assad’s favor, and Carter appeared to want to open the sails. Carter said he “went to Damascus and had a long session with minister of foreign affairs Walid Mouallem and the next morning with president Bashar al-Assad.
“They were somewhat peeved at US ‘intervention’ in the Lebanese election, eager to have friendly relations with the US, believe recent diplomatic meetings were wasted opportunities, look forward to senator George Mitchell’s visit this week, want to help with Iraq border crossing security and the overall Mideast peace process.”
In Carter’s report, Assad and his foreign minister Walid Mouallem appear favorably; they hope “to have friendly relations with the US.” They want to “help with Iraq border security,” and with “the overall Mideast peace process.” Nothing is reported by Carter on Assad’s ruthless suppression of all dissent that would lead, just two years later, to the popular revolt against his despotism that began the Syrian Civil War.
Carter didn’t mention human rights abuses or critique the Assad regime. Instead, he went and met “Khaled Mashaal and other leaders of Hamas. Our primary goals were to induce them to comply with the Quartet’s ‘3 conditions’ (recognize Israel’s right to exist; forgo violence; and accept previous peace agreements), help form a unity government with elections next January, and exchange the release of Corporal [Gilad] Schalit for a reasonable number of prisoners held by Israel.
“As in previous meetings, my impression was that they were frank and honest with me, listening carefully, quickly accepting or rejecting my suggestions, and being flexible when possible.”…
Hamas leaders were “frank and honest,” according to Jimmy Carter — his endless gullibility, when it came to the Arabs, was on display in his report on meeting Meshaal. He didn’t seem to mind that Hamas was, even then, a designated terror organization.
“I then met with [Palestinian Authority] minister of interior Sayed Abu Ali and his police commander. The minister seemed to think he should arrest any activist supporting Hamas, including well-known NGOs and financial groups and could name none of the 600 or more prisoners who had been given a civilian trial or legal council.
Many of the prisoners, such as the associates of Barghouti, are obviously just political opponents of Fatah. We then met with prime minister Salaam Fayad, who promised to investigate police policies and correct abuses.”…
The Syrian regime is ten times as ruthless in suppressing its perceived political enemies as is the PA, but Carter has nothing but earnest praise for the Assad regime which executed more than 150,000 of its opponents, while he criticizes the PA for arresting — not routinely executing — Hamas members and political dissidents.
Carter notes that the Hamas leader Haniyeh wants building materials. We know now where these materials went – to build tunnels and rockets….
Haniyeh was pleading for the only kind of building materials that the Israelis prevent from entering Gaza — the “dual-use” materials that can be used not just to build civilian infrastructure, but also to build weapons or to dig terror tunnels. Carter treats Hamas’ demand for such materials as justified, failing to understand what kind of materials these are and why Israel keeps them out of Gaza.
Until his death, Carter uttered not a word of criticism either of Assad, or of Hamas. His harshest words — in fact, a whole book he wrote about Israel’s putative crimes — Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid — were reserved for the tiny and embattled Jewish state, for daring to defend its people against the terrorists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, who want to destroy them and replace Israel with a 23rd Arab state.
Zeenah says
Jimmy Carter had a lot in common with Assad and HAMAS in there shared hatred of jews and Israel.
rick says
I think President Carter could be introduced to Dr. Mengele, smile and shake his hand. Not because Carter was a mean person but he just didn’t know who he was dealing with.
Carter’s advisers who came along with him were probably State Dept. flunkies who as we know hated Israel. Whenever Carter asked them about an Arab,he was given a clear bill of health by these flunkies. If it were an Israeli, he would be told “Watch out Mr. President. He is dangerous”.
Now Carter may not have liked Jewish people. I do not know. If he did then he was in cahoots with the State Dept.
President Truman was personally very anti-Semitic but that didn’t stand in his way to support the State of Israel in 1948. A real President.
Mike says
Why was President Truman anti-Semitic, do you know? Is it because he had disputes with the Jewish scientists (such as Oppenheimer) who had contributed to the Manhattan Project for nukes?
Wellington says
Truman’s anti-Semitism, which David McCullough covers in his first-rate biography of Truman, was of the standard generic kind—not defensible of course but not actively harmful either. Truman grew up in the Missouri of old when blacks were “niggers” and Jews were “kikes” (both of which terms Truman used in private correspondence). But when push came to shove, Truman did the right thing, for instance not only immediately recognizing the state of Israel upon its creation in May of 1948 but also being the first President to address the NAACP (Truman also integrated the American Armed forces).
This is why taking modern values and assessments back into the past and judging people by them is highly fallacious and even dishonest. Another example of this is Abraham Lincoln who detested slavery and directed a war in part to end this iniquitous institution, but Lincoln also stated (for instance in his debates with Stephen Douglas) that he thought the black man was inferior to the white man and that intermarriage among the races should not occur. Thus was the mindset of the time and I challenge any white person who thinks such an assessment is terrible, what they themselves would have thought had they been born white some one hundred to one hundred and fifty years before they actually were.
Besides, a la “Avenue Q,” everyone’s a little bit racist (or prejudiced in some way). Anyone averring otherwise is either being naive or dishonest.
Wellington says
The man was awful as President and awful as an ex-President. I read his public life as virtually an entire negative but the fact that he is now getting so much praise serves as testimony to how truth is often distorted for one inexcusable reason or another.
Blougeoisie says
Didn’t he was a warmonger of gabbardesque proportions
Walter Sieruk says
It’s been long observed and known that that who a man willingly associates with on friendly terms reveals much about his real character.
Therefore, with this, above ,statement taken into account, the character of Jimmy Carter is wicked.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
So is Jimmy Carter still the worst president, or has Biden overtaken him in that department?
Tony says
The virtue-signaling Democrats are worthless political leaders for failing to understand Islam’s state-sanctioned terrorism, discrimination, and violence against all Non-Muslims. Allah in Quran 9:111 says, “Surely Allah has purchased from the believers[Muslims] their souls and their money so that they may have the garden[Heavenly Paradise]. They engage in war for the sake of Allah, so they k i l l and are k i l led…”. Allah in Qur’an 8:12 says, “When your lord revealed to the angels: ‘I am with you so make firm those who believed[Muslims]. I will cast a terror into the hearts of those who became infidels[Non-Muslims]. So strike above their necks(decapitation), and strike off(chop off) every finger from them.’” Allah in Qur’an 49:15 says, “Surely the believers are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed jihad with their MONEY AND THEIR LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.” Allah in Qur’an 8:39 says, “And engage in war with them[Non-Muslims] until there will not be sedition and the religion will be completely to Allah…”