Monday, January 12, 2009
Piling on Jimmy Carter
Others have already appropriately slammed former President Carter for his all-too-predictable anti-Israeli rant in last Thursday’s Washington Post but, not unlike the last guy in on the tackle, I feel the need to get in my own cheap shots:
“After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions.”
His casualty statistic is surely designed to understate the significance of these terrorist acts:
“Since 2001, when the rockets were first fired, more than 8,600 have hit southern Israel, nearly 6,000 of them since Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005. The rockets have killed 28 people and injured hundreds more.” BBC NEWS Middle East Q&A: Gaza conflict
…and they had to first go to Sderot before they could declare that a rocket fired indiscriminately is an act of terrorism?
“From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza.”
Umm, Hamas doesn't control the West Bank.
And the one observation that should forever mark Mr. Carter as little more than an Hamas “Baghdad Bob” :
“And this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza.”
Again, from the BBC (certainly no friend of Israel): “Events began to come to a climax after the Israelis raided southern Gaza on 4 November 2008 to destroy smuggling tunnels.”
Why Israel continues to even humor this man by pretending to take serious his visits to the area is beyond me.
“After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions.”
His casualty statistic is surely designed to understate the significance of these terrorist acts:
“Since 2001, when the rockets were first fired, more than 8,600 have hit southern Israel, nearly 6,000 of them since Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005. The rockets have killed 28 people and injured hundreds more.” BBC NEWS Middle East Q&A: Gaza conflict
…and they had to first go to Sderot before they could declare that a rocket fired indiscriminately is an act of terrorism?
“From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza.”
Umm, Hamas doesn't control the West Bank.
And the one observation that should forever mark Mr. Carter as little more than an Hamas “Baghdad Bob” :
“And this fragile truce was partially broken on Nov. 4, when Israel launched an attack in Gaza to destroy a defensive tunnel being dug by Hamas inside the wall that encloses Gaza.”
Again, from the BBC (certainly no friend of Israel): “Events began to come to a climax after the Israelis raided southern Gaza on 4 November 2008 to destroy smuggling tunnels.”
Why Israel continues to even humor this man by pretending to take serious his visits to the area is beyond me.
