Talk about chutzpah-the Israeli Secret Service will NOT provide protection tot he guy who brokered the peace agreement! What’s this world cominmg to?
Anyway, since doofus Carter isn’t representing the USA in this, I suppose the Israelis are withing protocol.
But man, they have a LOT of explaining to do, if “Jimma” gets capped! :smack:
Jimmy Carter has Secret Service protection. I’m sure appropriate clearance for the agents will be provided through the embassy. Government-to-government contacts with Israel are pretty close.
This isn’t a big deal. The real insult is that the Israeli PM and top ministers are refusing even to meet with Carter during his visit, just because he plans to meet with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Syria later in the same trip. That’s more than chutzpah, it’s . . . what’s a good Yiddish word for extremely rude and petty and mean-minded behavior?
It’s not “rude” or “petty.” It’s just that they are uninterested in making any type of peace agreement.
Are you sure that’s the only (or even the main) reason? I know it’s being reported that way, but it might have something to do with a certain book Carter recently published, too. No?
You mean the Israeli leaders, or Hamas?
Neither would be a good excuse for the Israeli leaders refusing to meet with Carter in these circumstances.
That would be an even worse reason to snub him, wouldn’t it?
Why? He expressed his opinion on us, we’re expressing our opinion on him.
The official Israeli policy regarding Jimmy Carter seems to be that he’s a dick. As national policies go, that one’s just fine with me.
So, Israeli leaders won’t meet with somebody who wrote a book calling their country a racist state, and who’s meeting with a leader of a terrorist group that wants to wipe their country out? It’s shocking, really.
Well, I was referring to the Israeli leaders, but I would say both sides are obviously uninteresting in making peace.
More than that. He was sickeningly close to Arafat, advising him how to tailor his message for Western ears, and even wrote speeches for him.
That, the book issue, and these recent developments - plus longstanding Israeli distrust of him (he was very pro-Egyptian in the negotiations in the 1970s) shouldn’t fool anyone about what side he’s on in this dispute.
I’m puzzled. He is now a private citizen, not representing the US. Yes, he did a good thing but he is also now on record saying things highly insulting to most Israelis and meeting with an organization that Israel wants to isolate and diminish in stature. That may or may not be the best approach, but it is their choice to make and their choice if they want to support in any way efforts that they percieve may directly undermine that tactic’s potential efficacy.
Given their current approach to Hamas and Carter’s recent writings, meeting with this private citizen would be inappropriate at this time.
… and the issue, is?
A private citizen, acting in his capacity as private citizen, after publishing an extremely negative book that was either a pack of lies or, to be charitable a swarm of “mistakes”… he then meets with the head of a racist, genocidal organization expressly dedicated to wiping a nation off the map.
And when that specific nation tells this asshole “no, sorry, we won’t provide you with extra security while you’re here or meet with you, for that matter”, that’s a shock?
Glutton is , of course, totally baffled about how very much chutzpah (:rolleyes: ) it must take to not personally meet with a slanderous liar who shills for those who want to exterminate your entire ethnicity/bloodlines/religion. What nerve, those uppity Israelis!
In recent news, Honky McHonkerton, well known author of Niggers are just stupid and lazy., is meeting with the local Grand Dragon of the KKK to discuss various matters. Around the nation, mutterings of non-comprehension were heard as people talked about the extreme chutzpah displayed when many black leaders happen ed to decline a chance to chat with Honky. What’s with those uppity blacks, anyways?
It’s interesting. Nobody would even think, for a moment, that they could say “sure I support the KKK, but why do you have a problem with me Tyrone?” or “Yeah, I really admire the Nazis, is that going to be a personal problem between us, Moshe?”
But a certain political faction sees, or acts as if they see, nothing wrong with supporting Hamas and friends, and then wondering why Israelis/Jews aren’t totally happy.
Go figure.
Actually, the reported failure of Israeli intelligence to work with the Secret Service is the big deal in my opinion.
Regardless of whether the Israelis don’t like Carter and their leaders won’t be meeting with him, he is a former American President who has considerable history promoting peace efforts in the region. For those reasons alone he is deserving of full cooperation in ensuring his safety, the same as other recent visitors (like John McCain) received.
If harm comes to Carter it’ll be a p.r. disaster for Israel, even if there’s no evidence their security forces could have done anything to stop it.
He is also the ex-POTUS who has done more for Israel than any other living gentile, and who at present clearly has no agenda but peace. Shouldn’t that count for something?
But that isn’t the situation. There was a deliberate decision not to work with a specific SS detail. There’s no indication that any sitting President or any other retired American President would be treated in a similar manner.
He also has a considerable current trend of using lies and distortions to support a political agenda which is hostile and harmful to Israel. More to the point, he has done a great many things, deliberately, to reduce Israel’s safety. I see no reason that Israel should look to his safety in return. Seems a very odd position for Carter to believe that he’s justified in lying and twisting to push a particular agenda that includes a lack of security for Israel… and then expect Israel to provide for his personal security.
Maybe. It depends on who gets him, to be frank. Some disillusioned element of Hamas? Might actually end up as good PR for Israel. Fuck it, even if Carter got blown to bloody mist by some suicide bomber, I’d hope that folks remembered that reducing or eliminating Israel’s ability to, among other things, stop suicide bombers was one of Carter’s driving goals.
You are kidding yourself.
Even during the 1970s, Israel had no illusions about where Carter’s sympathies lay. Late in 1977, the Carter Administration issued a joint statement with the Soviet Union intended to kick start the Geneva talks - this statement explicitly mentioned the grievances of the Palestinian people. This was a clear reversal of American policy, which prior to this was trying to marginalize the PLO.
This not only freaked out the Israelis - it freaked out Sadat - who had spent years cleaning out all of the Soviet “advisers” in Egypt left there when Nasser died. The last thing he wanted was Soviet interference in the process - so he short-circuited the communique and Geneva and flew to Jeruselem himself in November.
Sadat was the real hero of that process. He had the most to lose - indeed, he was killed himself before seeing the process through.
As for the present, Carter has lots of agendas, and not all of them are peaceful. Given a choice between peace in Israel and what he considers justice for the Palestinian people, what do you think he would advocate?
For those of us who are ignorant. What did Carter do to piss off Israel?
Marc
Apparently his sin was to go public with the idea that the Palestinians might actually have a genuine grievance…
Wrote a book pointing out that Israeli colonization of Palestinian land is an obstacle to peace.