Israel Matzav

Carter calls on Obama to embrace Hamas

America's worst ex-President was in Gaza on Tuesday, where he called on his competitor for the title of America's worst President to engage with the Hamas terror organization.

Former President Jimmy Carter will urge the Obama administration to remove Hamas from the terrorist list, FOX News has learned.

Carter, a chief defender of the U.S.-designated terror group, said Tuesday he will meet with officials in the Obama administration in two days to discuss his latest trip to the Middle East.

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Carter was granted special waivers by the U.S. Secret Service allowing him to enter Gaza. Employees of the U.S. executive branch are not allowed into the strip since a roadside bomb killed three U.S. security personnel in 2003.

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Carter said he feels personally responsible that American weapons were used to fight in Gaza Strip last year, when Israeli Defense Forces entered the strip to stop the launch of rockets from there into Israel.

Maybe Carter should go ask Hamas to beat him. I hear they're real good at that.

Israel Radio reported this morning that Carter was carrying an oral message from President Obama and that he will be conveying Hamas' response when he meets the President later this week.

Carter had a lot more to say while he was in Gaza.

Former president Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were being treated "more like animals than human beings" by Israeli rules that have limited travel, banned the import of all but basic goods and prevented reconstruction since a three-week war ended earlier this year.

"Never before in history has a large community been savaged by bombs and missiles and then deprived of the means to repair itself," he said.

Carter called the situation "a terrible human rights crime," noting that the restrictions force people to rely on smugglers for many items.

"This abuse must cease. The crimes must be investigated. The wall must be brought down, and the basic right of freedom must come to you," he said at a United Nations school during a visit to Gaza that included meetings with top officials of the Islamist Hamas group, which holds power in the area.

I wonder if we can tie Carter on a roof in Sderot and let him watch the rockets' red glare and the bombs bursting in mid-air if God forbid the blockade in Gaza is lifted.

There was also allegedly an attempt on Carter's life in Gaza on Tuesday. But there seems to be some dispute as to who made the attempt and who stopped it. This is from Arutz Sheva (Israel National News).

The Israeli Maariv newspaper quoted an unnamed "Palestinian security source" as saying that Hamas militiamen neutralized two explosive devices placed along the route Carter's motorcade was to travel in northern Gaza. The bombs were reportedly placed near the Erez Crossing after Carter had already passed through, indicating an intention to strike at the former U.S. president on his way out of Gaza. The newspaper claimed that Hamas sappers and other security forces responded to the scene and eliminated the threat.

Contradicting the Maariv report, however, a spokesman for the Hamas police force in Gaza said that his forces found no bombs along the route to Erez Crossing. Islam Shahwan confirmed that there was a brief suspicion of explosive devices placed along Carter's travel route, but insisted that a sweep of the area turned up no security breaches.

Maariv quoted sources among Carter's associates as saying that Hamas updated them about the explosives and offered guidance to the American delegation. The newspaper added that an al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Gaza was responsible for the attempted assassination. Jihadist websites initially seemed to confirm the Ma'ariv story, including supposed "eyewitness" accounts of the discovery and neutralization of two bombs.

National Post of Canada has a different account:

The DEBKA Web site claimed there was only one device of about 200 kilograms and Israeli military had watched from across the border as it was manoeuvred into place at the Erez border crossing.

Israeli security sources also said that the Shin Bet, the Israel security agency, had learned of plans to target Mr. Carter and had passed on the information to the former president's security detail in "real time."

In Gaza, Ismail Shahwan, spokesman for the Hamas Ministry of the Interior, denied the reports of any bombing attempt by an al-Qaeda group.

He said no explosives were discovered near the border crossing and the visit went according to plan.

Yes, that's the same Ismail Shahwan - he apparently changed his mind later in the day. But for the real story, you have to go Ace.

Israel Security Saves Jimmy Carter From Assassination Attempt By Palestinians

Sounds about right. The headline credits Hamas for actually removing the bombs, but it was Israeli security who got the intelligence and passed it on.

Jimmy Carter immediately thanked Israelis by calling them "insidiously cunning" and "ruthlessly, even demonically, crafty." He then went back to reading a book by Holocaust denier David Irving, calling it "the feel-good rollercoaster ride of the summer."

No, but really, he did assert Hamas "wants peace" and otherwise flatter his terrorist hosts.

He has such a way with words....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:59 PM