Carter Is Legitimizing Hamas
The Weekly Standard/Daily Standard
Carter’s visit sends the wrong message.
by Matthew Levitt
Imagine the Alice in Wonderland scene that will take place later this week, when U.S. Secret Service agents entrusted with protecting former president Jimmy Carter
stand guard over a meeting with the head of a designated terrorist group responsible for near daily attacks targeting civilians, including numerous attacks in which American citizens have been injured and killed. The former president may have altruistic motives, but his meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mishal is both imprudent and dangerous.
Last week, Hamas confirmed press reports that Mishal will host Carter in Damascus for a meeting on April 18. Hamas must have taken special pleasure announcing the presidential meeting the same week the State Department issued the latest version of its annual Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. Fifth from the top is Hamas, a charter member of this select group, reinstated every year since the list’s inception in 1995. Carter’s visit sends the message that Hamas need not fret over the designation–he is willing to accept the group as it is, terrorism notwithstanding, and others may well follow.
