Israel's Shin Bet security service has declined to work with the Secret Service to provide the customary assistance or intelligence to Jimmy Carter's security team, during Carter's visit as he sits down for discussions with the Hamas terrorist leader, Khaled Meshaal, that have been raining rockets upon the town of Sderot for years as well as other towns.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, Israel, Japan, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the militant wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The European Union lists Hamas as a group 'involved in terrorist attacks' and has implemented restrictive measures against Hamas.
According to a spokesman for Carter, Israel has also denied Carter's request to meet jailed Palestinian uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi.
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.
Carter is a known terrorist sympathizer who has admitted that he has been talking to terrorist leaders for years. (H/T LGF)
Pressure to drop the meeting has come from his own party. Democratic Reps. Artur Davis of Alabama, Shelley Berkley of Nevada, Adam Schiff of California and Adam Smith of Washington state wrote a letter to Carter, saying the meeting could confer legitimacy on a group that embraces violence.
"I've been meeting with Hamas leaders for years," Carter said.
The State Department has made their feelings clear on this subject by telling Carter he should not be meeting with the Hamas chief, Khaled Meshaal. According to the State Department, meeting with Hamas is "not in the interest of peace".
Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have all declined to meet with him as had the opposition, Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, with Netanyahu saying, "There is no doubt that Jimmy Carter as a former president should be greeted as a matter of protocol, but it does not mean that the prime minister, the foreign minister and certainly the opposition leader have to meet him."
Reuters.
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