Jimmy Carter’s Fantasies of Hamas as a ‘Political Actor’

Peace activist and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has put pressure on the U.S. government to recognize Hamas’s “legitimacy as a political actor,” while condemning Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip as “a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Carter expresses his views on Hamas and Gaza in an article written with former Irish president Mary Robinson for ForeignPolicy.com. It has been picked up by many news sources, including The Washington Times.

The authors argue that “there is no humane or legal justification for how the Israeli Defense Force is conducting this war, pulverizing with bombs, missiles and artillery large parts of Gaza, including thousands of homes, schools and hospitals, displacing families and killing Palestinian noncombatants. Much of Gaza has lost its access to water and electricity completely. This is a humanitarian catastrophe.”

They also call on the U.S. and the EU, arguing, “Hamas is not just a military force but also a political one. It cannot be wished away, nor will it cooperate in its own demise. Only by recognizing its legitimacy as a political actor — one that represents a substantial portion of the Palestinian people — can the west begin to provide the right incentives for Hamas to lay down its weapons.”

Their Main Aim Is To Destroy Israel

Carter used to be regarded as one of the weakest of U.S. presidents. He was certainly successful in mediating the Camp David Accords in 1978, which led to peace between Egypt and Israel. He was, however, less successful in his other activities. Today his efforts give the impression of mild delirium. Hamas is a terrorist organization that has the aim of destroying Israel — an aim that it does not conceal in any way. This Friday, one Hamas leader stirred up a crowd by saying that their rockets were aimed at Tel Aviv. Why Tel Aviv, a city where civilians live and where the possibility that rockets from Gaza will hit soldiers is slight? Because that is of no importance to Hamas, for whom every Israeli is a soldier, even babies.

Every time a ceasefire is called, Hamas resumes fire as before. It was Israel that voluntarily withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Since then, Hamas has fired more than 11,000 rockets — some homemade and some of military strength — which are smuggled through underground tunnels. Other tunnels are dug for the kidnapping of Israelis. Hamas demands the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for their return — preferably at a rate of 200 terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands for each kidnapped civilian.

Hamas Is Behind the Tragedy

The death toll on the Palestinian side is tragic. At the same time, it would be enough if they stopped firing rockets and kidnapping people and recognized Israel’s right to exist. It would cost the leaders of Gaza nothing, but they don’t care about the lives of their own people. They install rocket launchers on homes, schools and hospitals, cynically calculating that when the Israelis hit them, it damages Israel in the eyes of the public.

Why do Carter and Robinson think that Hamas might be willing to lay down its arms? It will not: after all, by doing so, this “legitimate political actor” would abandon its raison d’être, namely the elimination of the Jewish state.