Jimmy Carter's Hamas Humbug

Former President Jimmy Carter appeared on Larry King Live the other day and talked a bit about the Palestinian elections. (Transcript here.) For a man whose name is synonymous with respecting the rule of law he showed an astonishingly breezy disregard for it.

KING: What do you do when you want a democracy, a this country would like all countries to be democratic, and in a democratic election they elect someone you don't like?

CARTER: Well, obviously if you sponsor an election or promote democracy and freedom around the world then when people make their own decision about their leaders I think that all the government should recognize that administration and let them form the government as decided by the people themselves. If there are prohibitions, for instance, like in the United States against giving any money to a government that is controlled by Hamas, then the United States could channel the same amount of money to the Palestinian people through the United Nations, through the refugee fund, through UNICEF and things of that kind.

So, I hope that the people of Palestine who already suffer, as you know, under Israeli occupation, will not suffer because they're deprived of a right to pay the schoolteachers, the policemen, their welfare workers, the health workers and provide food for people. So, that's what I hope that it won't cost the Palestinian people their quality of life.

There you have it. In Mr. Carter's view the recent decision by the Palestinian people to elect a terrorist organization into government should have no consequence for them. The Palestinians can elect whomever they want and the rest of the world not only has to recognize that government, they have to continue their policies with respect to the Palestinians as if nothing has changed. In this view, elections don't really matter.

Sure, he would accept the United States respecting form by not sending money directly to Hamas, but he suggests we evade the substance of the law by continuing to send an identical sum of money to the UN for distribution to the Palestinian people directly. How this can be done and avoid Hamas is not explained. But the more important question that Mr. Carter simply ignores is why this should be done when the Palestinians freely and knowingly chose Hamas to govern them.

It's not as if the Palestinians are powerless subjects of a dictatorship that gives them no voice in their own affairs, like the North Koreans or the Cubans. No, the Palestinians just voted a new government into power in free and fair elections.

If the Palestinians "suffer because they're deprived of a right to pay the schoolteachers, the policemen, their welfare workers, the health workers and provide food for people" as a result of this election and a cutoff of funds from the West, well, that's their problem and they brought it on themselves by choosing anti-Semitic genocide over co-existence with Israel. The West should let them suffer the consequences of that choice.

Not that they'll suffer much from a cutoff of Western money. Their Arab brothers will open their fat petro-dollar filled wallets. And when they do, that will tell us a lot about whether they support co-existence with Israel or driving the Jews into the sea.

-tdr