Israeli Leaders Snub Jimmy Carter

Tuesday, April 21, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

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America

Former US President Jimmy Carter is expected in the Holy Land sometime in the next two weeks, but he’ll only succeed in fulfilling half of his mission to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, following consultations with the Foreign Ministry and Israel’s National Security Council, have declined invitations to meet with Carter.

A Foreign Ministry official told Channel 10 News that Carter is “a disaster for Israel,” and that all Israeli leaders should refrain from meeting with him and including him in the peace process.

Carter is widely viewed here as holding strong anti-Israel positions, especially after his previous defense of Hamas.

During last summer’s Gaza war, Carter insisted that Israel had “no justification” for responding militarily to escalating Hamas rocket attacks.

The former peanut farmer-turned-president has long blamed what he calls “Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinian land” as the primary obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East.

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