Former US president Jimmy Carter toured Sderot on Monday and said the firing of Kassam rockets from the Gaza Strip at the western Negev is "criminal."With:Carter, who made the comment after he was shown the remains of hundreds of rockets that were fired at the town, said he would try to promote a ceasefire in the region.
The Secretary-General condemns rocket fire against Israel by Hamas... He calls on Hamas and other militant groups to cease such acts of terrorism.To call terrorist acts "criminal" betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the facts and a clear bias towards the terrorists.
The only time I can find Dhimmi Carter condemning rockets to Sderot he also didn't use the word "terrorism," just using the blander "attacks" or the passive "violence" and even-handedly comparing suicide bombing to Israeli defensive actions last February:
The Carter Center condemns the recent Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket fire against Israel and calls on the Palestinian leadership in Gaza to take urgent and immediate measures to halt the spiraling cycle of violence.This is obscene.At the same time, the Center reiterates its previous calls for Israel to end its siege of Gaza and urges Israel to refrain from further attacks and assassinations against Palestinians. If the Annapolis process is to have any chance to succeed in bringing a lasting peace to the region, Israel and the Hamas leadership in Gaza must negotiate an immediate ceasefire, and all sides must redouble efforts to resolve key issues to enable a viable two-state solution.
The February 4 attack by two Palestinian suicide bombers was the first such attack within Israeli borders in over a year and the first claimed by Hamas since August 2004. Hamas' claim to have resumed the use of suicide bombings against civilians as a means of resistance to Israel is strongly condemned. In addition to these attacks, recent rocket fire has maimed two children in the Israeli town of Sderot. These attacks have led Israeli authorities to call for large-scale retaliatory operations in Gaza and for the assassination of Hamas leaders. Israel retaliatory attacks in eastern Gaza have killed both militants and innocent civilians. A missile dropped on a Palestinian school killed a teacher and wounded several students.
Both the Israeli government and Hamas, which has repeatedly stated in the past that it is willing to negotiate a truce with Israel, should take immediate steps to end the tragic cycle of retaliation.
Carter equates Israeli actions with those of Hamas,
he attempts to paint Hamas as more interested in peace than Israel by repeating Hamas lies about its interest in a temporary "truce",
he refusese to label even Palestinian suicide attacks as "terrorism,"
he implies that Hamas has been innocent of any terror acts in a 3.5 year period,
he implies that Israel assassinates - purposefully targets - innocent Palestinian Arabs and not only the terrorists,
he seems to be upset about the maiming of two Israeli children only because Israel might retailiate -
--these are all examples of his clear leaning towards the terrorists. Moreover, even though at the time of this press release it was known that the "school" that Israel shot at was a launching pad for Hamas rockets - a war crime - Carter doesn't mention it.
It is sickening.
Rockets being shot at civilians in Sderot is not merely a criminal act, and to label it as such is to downplay it. Jimmy has a rich record of downplaying Arab terror and demonizing Israeli actions, and this is yet another example.