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Beware, appeasement By Ari Shavit Tags: Middle East, Jimmy Carter  The suicidal left has found itself a new hero: Jimmy Carter. Finally, someone is speaking the truth: Israel is an apartheid state. Finally, someone is exposing justice: Palestinian terrorism is tantamount to the actions of the Israel Defense Forces. Finally, someone is bringing peace: He is welcomed by that modern-day Sadat, Khaled Meshal. For the suicidal left, Carter is the good American cop who is replacing the bad American cop and ending the dark era of George Bush. After eight lean years, we once again have a brave Southern sheriff chasing the true villain - Israel. Now, then, we can once again stretch out on the soft sofas of the 1990s divan and suck on a hookah of sweet illusions. As though Camp David never happened. As though Hamas did not exist. Because Jimmy has come home. Carter has brought back hope. In the spring of 1979, President Carter made history: He led Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat to sign a peace accord. Carter did not initiate the accord. In some of his moves, Carter even jeopardized it. And yet ultimately the former president headed the peace summit and brought Egypt and Israel to the happy ending that they had had trouble reaching by themselves. That glowing hour on the White House lawn is the hour of grace in Carter's failed career in international politics. No one can take it away from him. Advertisement In the fall of 1979, however, President Carter once again made history: failing to understand that the Khomeini revolution was imminent, he prevented the Shah from preventing the revolution. He thus brought about a historical catastrophe whose dimensions remain difficult to grasp even today. In the name of his commitment to moderation and human rights, Carter allowed zealots to take over Iran and turn it into a regional power of evil. This power of evil is about to become nuclear. It is a threat to Israel's existence, to the stability of the Middle East and to world peace. Carter bears the heavy burden of responsibility for this development. In November 1980, the Americans kicked Carter out of the White House in disgrace. They did so because they felt that he had destabilized America and brought it to its knees, and because they could no longer stand everything he represented: weakness, sanctimoniousness and groveling before evil. For some 30 years, Carter has been perceived by most Americans as a self-righteous fool who does not understand the basic physics of the real world. The fact that the preacher from Georgia wrapped his alchemy of international politics in a moralizing theology only increased the repugnance he aroused. Just as Carter's policy is not really policy, his morality is not really morality. There is no zealous thug that Carter will not embrace. No third-world terrorist that he will not try to appease. The problem, however, is not Carter, but Carterism. Carterism is a policy of appeasement: it is the unwillingness of those who seek good in the West to protect the values of the West when faced with an aggressor from the East. Carterism is the inability of the enlightened in North America and North Tel Aviv to face the fact that sometimes there is evil in the Third World. Sometimes there is evil in the Arab world. There is even Palestinian evil. Carter himself is not very important. He did some damage to Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian moderates, but the damage is limited. He did talk peace with Hamas at the same time that Hamas was initiating a military offensive at Kerem Shalom, an act that might have sparked a war, but in this he only exposed his own shoddiness. Carterism is far more important than Jimmy Carter. Carterism is a profound scourge found among certain elites in the U.S., in Western Europe and in Israel. Carterism is a dangerous distortion of thought and values among those who presume to be thinkers committed to values. The possibility that a Democrat will be elected president of the United States in November makes the debate over Carterism relevant and vital. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will have to choose whether to continue in the sober tradition of Roosevelt-Truman-Kennedy or to revive Carter's appeasement. That is why it is important to speak out strongly right now about the path chosen by the old man who came to visit us this week. This path is not only delusional, but immoral. Carterism's cooperation with Hamas is cooperation with the oppression of women, with the jailing of homosexuals, with the persecution of Christians. It is cooperation with a religious tyranny that tramples the Palestinian individual and seeks to eradicate the Israeli-Jewish collective. True, George Bush too has wreaked calamity on the Middle East, but the way to correct Bush's mistake is not to return to Carter's abomination. If the Israeli, European and American left chooses to become a Carterist left, it will indeed become a suicidal left. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Survivors and pioneers Yad Vashem exhibit shows how Holocaust survivors helped shape Israel's identity Researching bacon Lahav's pig breeding gained widespread notoriety because of its legal loophole.   1.   CARTER IS THE FIRST AND THE ONLY 10:04  |  indrajaya 24/04/08   2.   Carter is only paid to.... 10:12  |  FOX 24/04/08   3.   Ari Shavit, this is a fine mess you would get us into! 10:15  |  Natallie Durson 24/04/08   4.   The suicidal left 10:18  |  Poppy Bison 24/04/08   5.   #2 Natallie Durson 10:36  |  Jos 24/04/08   6.   Good vs Evil problem on both sides 10:46  |  Lobo08 24/04/08   7.   Carter is a lowlife Overt liar 10:54  |  Dr Eric 24/04/08   8.   And Israel/Jewish side is llily White 11:13  |  El-Birawi 24/04/08   9.   The Kamikaze Right Poses a Far Bigger Threat 11:13  |  Mr. Know-It-All 24/04/08   10.   Every sentence in this is a slogan 11:42  |  Rowan 24/04/08   11.   carter 12:18  |  youssef 24/04/08   12.   Brilliant Article 12:41  |  Mr Ipp 24/04/08   13.   Evidence here for moral equivalence 12:51  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   14.   KNOWALL .The Moslem brotherhood existed long before Israel 1928 12:55  |  PETER SM 24/04/08   15.   Perhaps the problem is Mandelaism, Tutuism, or antioppressionism 13:04  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   16.   Poppy bison, its not about Israel existing - its the occupation 13:09  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   17.   INDRAJAYA CARTER IS THE FIRST & ONLY PRESIDENT 13:15  |  PETER SM 24/04/08   18.   Don`t Ignore - don`t comment on subjects u know nothing about 13:19  |  dr eric 24/04/08   19.   ari shavit 13:24  |  daniel gavron 24/04/08   20.   #13 Arabs are 100% to blame for terror and refugees!! 13:32  |  dr eric 24/04/08   21.   Zionism is the greatest evil the planet has faced,and Carter is 13:38  |  lakshmi 24/04/08   22.   Well, Mr. Shavit, there is a little bit of "evil" in everyone.... 13:39  |  Swiss (Dino) 24/04/08   23.   CARTER`S APPEASEMENT OF ISRAEL IGNORING ITS WAR CRIMES 13:42  |  TripleJump 24/04/08   24.   Dr Eric, Gaza went from an occupation to an outdoor prison 13:45  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   25.   DON"T IGNORE STUFF.Then go straight ahead& do just that! 13:46  |  PETER SM 24/04/08   26.   Dr Eric, your ignorance of international law is that of an outlaw 13:48  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   27.   Carter, the biggest coward in history 13:50  |  maurice 24/04/08   28.   Dr Eric, Begin and Dayan can explain why Arabs feel provoked 13:53  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   29.   # 15, PETER SM 13:53  |  indrajaya 24/04/08   30.   Gavron is a liar 13:57  |  Herbert Kaine 24/04/08   31.   Peter wake up. You have disrespect for people starving in Gaza 14:19  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   32.   Is Carter gone? 14:37  |  Johnny Weintraub 24/04/08   33.   Peter you brushed off the 931 Palestinian children killed 14:42  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   34.   creeping senility 14:45  |  Iz Ray Leigh 24/04/08   35.   Nice job Ari 14:48  |  Jason 24/04/08   36.   Herbert Kaine 14:49  |  Raad 24/04/08   37.   DON"T ignore stuff.THE UN,numerous NGO`s& media are in Gaza 14:51  |  PETER SM 24/04/08   38.   INDRAJAYA. Carter ignores reality including the reality of Hamas 14:59  |  PETER SM 24/04/08   39.   Peter, Carter`s move to communicate has historical precedent 15:02  |  Don`t Ignore Stuff 24/04/08   40.   All good "intentions" do lead to hell 15:02  |  Buzaglow 24/04/08   41.   #25 and i cant ignore total ignorance and 15:07  |  victor hardman 24/04/08   42.   DON`T IGNORE STUFF Mandela & Tutu are against opression?? 15:16  |  PETER SM 24/04/08   43.   Don`t Ignore Stuff.....I guess Pals should have 15:36  |  Lynn 24/04/08   44.   Raad and Hebron of 1929 15:45  |  Herbert Kaine 24/04/08   45.   # 9 Mr. Know It All....Peace is a beautiful thing 15:47  |  Lynn 24/04/08   46.   Beware Appeasement 15:49  |  Miles 24/04/08   47.   madam wanker lakshmi 15:50  |  dimple kapadia 24/04/08   48.   Don`t Ignore Stuff...US gives aid to Pals, Egypt 15:52  |  Lynn 24/04/08   49.   lakshmi are your hands above your waist 15:53  |  dimple kapadia 24/04/08   50.   Lakshmi.....Islamists are the evil in the world 15:54  |  Lynn 24/04/08   51.   # 37 Don`t....it is not up to the Arab States 15:58  |  Lynn 24/04/08   52.   Carter doesn`t pay the price 16:03  |  Walter 24/04/08   53.   # 32 Don`t..... isn`t that date 16:09  |  Lynn 24/04/08   54.   I wish a saw Morris Valentine`s refutation of this article 16:19  |  S 24/04/08   55.   Ari, thank you for reflecting the way the overwhelming majority.. 16:25  |  Elad 24/04/08   56.   # 36, PETER SM 16:26  |  indrajaya 24/04/08   57.   Cooperation with Ari Shavit and Israel 17:04  |  Ismail 24/04/08   58.   Miles 44 17:05  |  ChanahS 24/04/08   59.   EXCELLENT, LUCID ARTICLE BY ARI SHAVIT. Bravo ! 17:06  |  Fortuna Benmayor 24/04/08   60.   Upon the face of the earth 17:12  |  roger wallace 24/04/08   61.   Don`t ignore - I ZERO ZERO ZERO RESPECT for the EVIL UN!!! 17:12  |  Dr Eric 24/04/08   62.   Brilliant! 17:14  |  Meryl 24/04/08   63.   peter s.m. do not talk with cocroaches. 17:53  |  vladimir 24/04/08   64.   "Carter`s approach"....didn`t work with Russia 18:21  |  Lynn 24/04/08   65.   Durson...anyone who considers Carter a "wise man" 18:23  |  Lynn 24/04/08   66.   Put Decency in the Center 18:38  |  DDD DDD 24/04/08   67.   #19 Daniel Gavron (1st letter) 18:40  |  Sarah 24/04/08   68.   Lynn -Pals are not little kids- #48 18:45  |  ahmed 24/04/08   69.   Carter is not responsible for Khomeini and his revolution. 18:46  |  Jozef 24/04/08   70.   lynn `believes pals` #41 18:48  |  ahmed 24/04/08   71.