The Carter Syndrome and Joe the Plumber

When you look at the photo of the five presidents, then read former President Carter’s op-ed “An Unnecessary War” today, it becomes immediately clear why the body language has Carter standing out there on the edge, alone. The leader of rhetoric that all sins are Israel’s when it comes to the Palestinians is the leading edge why.

Regular readers know that I’m no Carter fan (he inspired me to become a Reagan Democrat, though I was saved by 1983). However, I am able to give credit where it’s due on his post-presidency. But I cannot for the life of me fathom Carter’s insistence that Israel’s response in Gaza be seen in a vacuum, excluding the violence from the militant wing of Hamas who runs the world in that tiny sliver of the Middle East. I am at least heartened that the onslaught of criticism from Carter’s last book now at least has him offering examples of Hamas terrorism as he does today. It doesn’t last long. But Carter’s enduring legacy on the Israeli-Palestinian chaos is that he’s opened a wide alley for people to voice opposition to the standard AIPAC line, which has poisoned U.S. Middle East policy for years. For that Carter deserves a medal. The spawn of Carter, however, is deserving a syndrome title.

Enter Rashid Khalidi’s view of the Gaza war, someone who is a member of the Carter syndrome crowd:

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

Segue to the U.N. which has suspended humanitarian aid in Gaza because of Israel’s strikes on U.N. facilities. United Nations Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness also accuses Israel of “deliberately targeting” aid workers. (Founding member of the Charter syndrome crowd.)

I remain determinedly neutral, trying to see all sides as clearly as possible, considering I’ve never set foot in the region, something I hope will change if someone ever decides informed independent journalism is as important to support financially as celebrity wingnut stenographers like Joe the Plumber. It should not go unnoticed that regardless of the danger, which is Israel’s excuse for not letting journalists in, Joe gets access above all others because of Pajamas Media, something that further inspires the Carter syndrome crowd’s caterwauling. (Disclosure: I reported for Pajamas Media during the election season.)

Meanwhile among Israeli leaders, Haaretz offers this headline: Barak, Livni, Olmert at loggerheads over exit strategy of Gaza operation. No one ever seems to learn that getting into a war is always easier than getting out, especially when you haven’t thought it out at the planning. This is what gives the Carter syndrome crowd their platform. Israel always seems to simply blow crap up, invade, then pull back, rinse repeat every few years, with “peace” a word relegated to propaganda.

Now there are also reports that rockets have been fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.

Where to start?

The United Nations Security Council:

Mideast envoys and UNSC delegates have been looking for ways of ending the crisis, notably around the Egyptian-French plan, which calls for better border controls between Gaza and Egypt to crack down on the smuggling of weapons to Hamas militants. The Egyptian-French proposal aims to achieve a “lasting halt” to both rocket fire into Israel and arms-trafficking for Hamas and a pullout of IDF troops, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said Thursday. It would seek the reopening of border crossings between Israel and Egypt, a reconstruction effort in Gaza, prisoner exchanges and a return to overall peace talks, he said.

However, that doesn’t deal with the Carter syndrome contingent, which refuses to acknowledge the violent military wing of Hamas that has power in Gaza, over which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has no say or sway.

Amidst it all comes Egypts ceasefire proposal, which calls for a cessation to fighting that will be followed by border security talks, but also an end to the Gaza blockade that has been greeted positively on all sides, with Condoleezza Rice expressing U.S. support as well. Egypt is putting pressure on Hamas leadership in Syria as well, with Turkey announcing their willingness to be part of a monitoring team inside Gaza, along with the French.

None of this wipes out what Carter and others continually emphasize in a vacuum, which is a brutal Israel against “innocent” Palestinians in Gaza that ignores the equally brutal, terrorist regime of militant Hamas that is hurting the real innocents, which are the civilians caught in the crossfire of the Gaza thugocracy. So one wonders whether Israel’s peace talks with Syria will include the subject of the militant faction of Hamas comfortably given sanctuary by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Way out on the fringe reality is The Hague’s unfolding investigation on Hariri’s assassination, which could blow all the meditations on ceasefire shy high.

While balancing opposing ideas in your head at once, which the Middle East requires, one still has to wonder if Israel’s only goal was to light a fuse under Arab leaders in the region to become more active in standing up to Hamas in Gaza, or if they really believed the tortured Palestinians under the Gaza thugocracy would actually rise up. Nah, it had to be the former; either that or they had no ultimate goal at all, just a wait and see what happens approach. Either way, Israel’s extreme military reaction to Hamas’ extreme acting out certainly inspired reactions beyond the usual suspects. The carnage is, as they say, collateral damage to The Cause, which is an eventual Palestinian state. The only thing that will save the Israelis.

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