What They Are Saying

After All These Years, Carter Still Doesn't 'Get' Life in the Middle East

Columnist Clifford D. May writes in National Review (www.nationalreview.com) on April 17 about why a former president would visit with a terrorist master:

"Let's be fair to Jimmy Carter. Let's suppose he isn't indulging in egotistical grandstanding, that he doesn't harbor a deep-seated bias against Israel, and that he's not been influenced by the millions of dollars Islamists have provided to his Carter Center. Let's suppose his freelance diplomacy is sincerely in pursuit of the elusive path to peace in the Middle East.

"Even so, why in the world would he pay a courtesy call on Khaled Meshaal, an admitted terrorist master? Meshaal has claimed responsibility for organizing numerous suicide bombings, slaughtering mostly Israeli civilians, but Americans, too. The head of Hamas' politburo, he lives not in Hamas-ruled Gaza or the West Bank, controlled, more or less, by Fatah, Hamas' rival. He resides in Syria, a guest of dictator Bashar Assad, Iran's client, who for the past five years has facilitated the flow of Al Qaeda combatants into Iraq.

"Those who attempt to appease tyrants are generally suspected of cowardice. More often, I suspect, lack of imagination is the cause. When Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in Munich, he no doubt believed he could reason with him because he also no doubt believed that the Führer -- whatever his grievances or ambitions -- was a reasonable man like himself. Offer Hitler a good deal -- land, power, prestige -- and surely he'd take it rather than plunge his nation into a terrible war.

"What this leaves out is ideology.

"The ideology of Hamas derives from something more enduring than Mein Kampf, Das Kapital or Mao's Little Red Book. It is rooted in a 1,400-year-old religion. Hamas proudly proclaims that 'the Koran is our constitution, Jihad is our way, and death for the sake of God is our highest aspiration.' Hamas leaders promise their followers not just rewards here on Earth but in the next world as well -- a selling point neither Nazism nor Communism could offer.

"Surely, Carter is aware that, as a matter of religious conviction, Meshaal cannot accept Israel's existence. Hamas believes that every inch of Israel and, indeed, of any land ever ruled by Muslims is 'an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day.'

"Does Carter sincerely think he can convince Meshaal to reject such ideas, and embrace the Carter Center's kumbaya mission of 'waging peace and building hope'? Does he really believe he can change Meshaal's mind, much less open his heart?

"If so, Carter is as clueless now as he was almost 30 years ago, when, on his watch as president, the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran, seized America's embassy, held our diplomats hostage and sat back to watch Carter do nothing effective in response. But let's be fair to Carter. He alone is not responsible for the rise of Islamism in all its malevolent variations. He is responsible, however, for so profoundly misunderstanding what is happening in the world over so many years."

Madison Avenue Sells Islamic Terror

Think-tank scholar Jonathan Schanzer writes in The Weekly Standard (www.weeklystandard.com) on April 16 about the selling of Hezbollah's terrorism:

"Hezbollah, the radical Shi'ite terrorist organization in Lebanon, is best known for attacking Israelis. But the organization also attempts to gain the support of Lebanese citizens with a sophisticated network of social services, political outreach and financial aid. And, recently, the militia has turned to advertising campaigns to bolster its image.

"Hezbollah owns or controls at least two known advertising companies: Ressalat and Media-Publi Management. The U.S. Department of the Treasury should designate both as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities (SDGTs) immediately as part of its ongoing campaign to cut off Hezbollah from the global financial system.

"According to a recent article in the Lebanese al-Nahar, Ressalat is a 'Hezbollah-funded organization that handles advertising and cultural events for the group.' The company does not appear to have a Web presence, but al-Nahar identified Mohamed Noureddine as Ressalat's creative director. His name can also be found alongside pro-Hezbollah videos on YouTube. After the car bombing that killed Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh on Feb. 13, Noureddine and his team launched a sophisticated advertising campaign to lionize the slain terrorist leader.

"Last year, Hezbollah posted a huge billboard in southern Lebanon, facing northern Israel, with the faces of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

"However, Hezbollah's advertising operation is not limited to billboards. As first revealed by analyst Avi Jorisch, a Lebanon-based company called Media-Publi Management handles ads and promotions for al-Manar, Hezbollah's television station.

"Media-Publi reportedly worked with numerous advertising agencies, including the world-renowned Saatchi and Saatchi, selling ad space to numerous multinational corporations.

"It is equally unclear whether either of these two advertising companies belong to the Lebanese Media Group, the parent company of al-Manar, which was also designated by the U.S. Treasury as an SDGT in March 2006. The designation must simply be enforced.

"Other banking systems and companies around the world should be encouraged to cease doing business with them. Hezbollah's Lebanese advertising operations must not be allowed to continue."

Arab Nations Must Assist Refugees

Author Rachel Neuwirth writes on AmericanThinker.com on April 13 about myths of the Arab "Exodus" during Israel's War of Independence:

"It was never the policy or objective of Israel's government to make Israel or Palestine 'Arab-free,' or of 'ethnically cleansing' the country of Arabs. If there ever was such a policy, then it would be impossible to explain how 1.4 million Arabs live in what is now sovereign Israeli territory today -- many more than lived in the same territory before the State of Israel was founded. Some expulsion!

"The Arab states which had encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to leave their homes temporarily [in 1948] in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees.

"The time is long overdue for the Arab League governments to accept responsibility for the people whom they have displaced and, in many cases, left stateless by their attempt, in cooperation with the Palestinian Arab leadership, to strangle Israel and exterminate her people in the year of her birth. And it is high time that today's Arab leaders, and the Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations whom they finance and sponsor, cease to exploit, as a propaganda weapon in their ongoing war against Israel, the suffering that an earlier generation of Arab leaders inflicted on their own people."