Israel Matzav

Carter Center to lose Federal funds?

US Representative Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.) has introduced legislation in Congress to strip Dhimmi Carter's Atlanta-based think tank of its Federal funding as a result of Carter's meeting tomorrow with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal. The Carter Center has received some $19 million in Federal funding since 2001.

"America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies," Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., said in a statement from his office. "It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups."

Knollenberg said the Carter Center has received about $19 million in taxpayer funds since 2001. He named his bill the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals Act — or CARTER Act, for short. The Carter Center is housed at Emory University in Atlanta.

Knollenberg's bill is just a small part of the outrage building in the US congress over Carter's trip to our region this week.

[A] second lawmaker presented a non-binding resolution that would urge former presidents from "freelance diplomacy" in direct response to Carter's visit.

...

The non-binding legislation was forwarded by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa. If adopted, the bill would express the "sense of Congress" that it "disapproves of former President Jimmy Carter's freelance diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, which contradict the stated foreign policy position of the current Administration."

The new legislation is the latest embodiment of scorn directed at Carter over meetings he plans this week with leaders of Hamas, which both the United States and Israel recognize as a terror organization and with which they refuse to negotiate.

Also Wednesday, Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., chairman of the Foreign Affairs Mideast subcommittee, wrote Carter imploring him not to meet with any more Hamas officials.

"[T]his visit will undermine the Middle East peace process and damage the credibility of Palestinian moderates," they wrote, adding that the "legitimacy and prestige that Hamas will derive from your visit will be seen in the region as a clear demonstration that violence pays."

Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., told FOX News, "I don't think Israel should try to negotiate with Hamas because Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist." Davis added that Carter's overtures stood athwart a tradition of support for Israel in America.

On Tuesday, more than 50 House members wrote Carter urging him to not meet with Meshal, calling him the man behind the deaths of 26 Americans.

Unfortunately, I'm sure that the likes of Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud will be more than happy to make up to Carter whatever the US Congress takes away.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:21 PM