Israel Matzav

The insecure dhimmi

At HotAir, Captain Ed reports that former US President Dhimmi Carter, who is on his way to visit Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, is not getting any protection from Israel's Shin Bet (General Security Service - an agency that has a combination of the FBI and the Secret Service's powers).

Israel's secret service has declined to assist U.S. agents guarding former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit in which Israeli leaders have shunned him, U.S. sources close to the matter said on Monday.

...

Israel has also rejected Carter's request to meet jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi, who is seen as a possible successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, a spokesman for Carter said.

Barghouthi was convicted in 2004 of murder by an Israeli court over the killing of four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk in attacks by Palestinian militants. He is serving five life sentences.

American sources close to the matter said the Shin Bet security service, which helps protect visiting dignitaries and is overseen by Olmert's office, declined to meet the head of Carter's Secret Service security detail or provide his team with assistance as is customary during such visits.

"They're not getting support from local security," an American source said.

...

Another source described the snub as an "unprecedented" breach between the Israeli Shin Bet and the U.S. Secret Service, which protects all current and former U.S. presidents, as well as Israeli leaders when they visit the United States.

Carter included the southern Israeli town of Sderot on his itinerary. The area is often hit by rockets from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and one of the sources described the lack of Shin Bet assistance there as particularly "problematic."

Israeli police have provided some technical assistance to Carter's delegation.

Olmert's office had no immediate comment.

Captain Ed, with whom I normally agree, thinks Israel is wrong to leave Dhimmi exposed like this.

The unprecedented breach, as Reuters reports it, means that the Secret Service will face more danger with less intelligence than on any other trip to the region. That will be especially problematic in Sderot, which Carter intends to visit. Khaled Meshaal’s nutcase followers rain rockets into Sderot on a regular basis, and with Carter’s visit so well publicized, they could either cease as a gesture of goodwill for Carter’s upcoming visit — or they could choose to make headlines around the world by killing Carter.

It gives the State Department a little more leverage about Carter’s trip. They could use the danger into which Carter would lead the Secret Service as a means to ask the Department of Homeland Security to refuse to allow them to accompany Carter. Carter could choose to go without the Secret Service, but without Israeli security, it would present a huge risk — and if he did go and got killed, it would be an explosive issue for the Bush administration.

Quite frankly, although I understand the Israeli’s action, I think it sets a bad precedent. Cooperation in security should not be predicated on agreement of political policies. Jimmy Carter may be the worst ex-president in American history, but he is still our ex-president, and the Secret Service detail that accompanies him deserves Israeli cooperation. The snub from the political class is well-deserved, but the Israelis should consider how Americans will view them if their refusal to cooperate on security leads to American deaths on this trip.

I'm going to disagree with Captain Ed. In fact, I doubt that the Shin Bet did this on their own initiative. If a request came to protect Carter, I'm pretty confident that the Shin Bet would have complied with it. I don't think the US State Department was able to bring itself to make the request. They are at least as disgusted about this trip as Israel is. And in Sderot this afternoon, while Carter called 'Palestinian' rocket fire a 'despicable crime,' there were no reports of rockets being fired in any of the accounts of Carter's visit, which leads me to believe that (surprise!) Meshaal controls the shooters and was able to shut them down while Carter was there. Why should Israel risk its agents' lives and spend its security budget to protect Carter, especially when the US isn't particularly interested in him anyway?

As to Barghouti, I'm pleasantly surprised that the government said no.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:37 PM