Jimmy Carter made the world unsafe from terrorism

Okay, Jimmy Carter died. Many will fill volumes of writing now saying that he was a good guy, honest, smart, and did some good things as president and in post-presidency. Despite many of these things being true, to me, Carter was an unrepentant antisemite who made excuses for Arab aggression and terror against Israel. For that alone and using the pulpit of his presidency in exile to spread these messages, I say good riddance.

As a failed one-term president, despite some achievements, including helping to broker the Camp David peace agreement with Israel and Egypt, Carter's abysmal policies vis-a-vis Iran left the U.S. ally Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi overthrown by Islamists, himself dying in exile. This paved the way for the Islamic Republic regime to take over Iran which it has hijacked for the past 46 years. The Iranian hostage crisis was an example of Carter's weakness, underscored by the fact that the hostages were released the day he left office.

His ineptitude was on full display then and paved the way for the Iranian Islamic regime to become the world’s largest state sponsor of l terror. These are not mere words – millions of Israelis and Iranians, as well as Jews and others, are still suffering as a result.

Carter’s antisemitism was not only unrepentant but also arrogant, as if only he knew the truth. However, his "truth" was a cocktail of distortions and fantasy, looking at the Middle East through a prism of how he believed things should be rather than how they were.

His book “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” deliberately kept his legitimization of terrorism against Israel, despite being called out as such. There was no apology, no correction, no recall – just a playbook about why killing Jews was acceptable.

Carter wrote, "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the 'Roadmap' for peace are accepted by Israel."

Essentially, as long as Israel doesn’t do what Carter thinks it should do, terrorism against Israel will continue and is legitimate.

Carter doubled down on his anti-Israel rhetoric and hate as a leading member of “The Elders,” a group of failed world leaders who colluded in multiple ways to continue his anti-Israel diatribe.

In 2009, Carter visited my neighborhood, Gush Etzion, where he surprised many by stating that in an eventual two-state solution (creating a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) and Gaza, he did not envision that Israel would have to return places like this. "I never imagined that Gush Etzion would be transferred to Palestinian hands.”

Maybe he misspoke or was just making friendly chit chat but the praise he received at the time for looking at the reality and not stringent black-and-white policies in which Israel was always to blame was short-lived and not repeated. He must have realized that legitimizing Israeli “settlements” in any way complicated his notion that it was still OK for Palestinian Arab terrorists to kill us.

Carter repeatedly blamed the Jews both for voting for Ted Kennedy, in an unprecedented primary campaign against a sitting president, and then losing to Ronald Reagan. To him, the Jews were disloyal if not all-powerful. Unencumbered by living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Carter simply allowed his antisemitic tendencies to take prime time in his presidency in exile.

As a student at Emory University, where his failed presidency found a home, I had several interactions with Carter. Yes, he was charming, and his soft-spoken demeanor could easily lead one to believe he was a good guy.

One day, in the late 1980s, he was making public remarks following another trip throughout the Middle East, during which he had no issue cozying up to the Assad dictatorship and other terror leaders. His public comments throughout the trip were a dizzying litany of anti-Israel rhetoric, voiced both in the Arab capitals where he was feted and during his time in Israel. Basically, he blamed Israel for everything wrong and the lack of peace in the Middle East.

During the Q&A session, there was time for only one question and my hand shot up. It had been the anniversary week of the Camp David Accords, and I thanked him for helping to make that possible – to which he smiled his big peanut smile. Then I asked him, as a representative of Emory University, if it was not academically disingenuous to travel the world and blame Israel for lack of peace while not holding the Arabs at least equally accountable.

His peanut smile turned into a scowl, and he began a tirade about how I was wrong, and Israel was to blame. I never had a former president get angry at me and “rip me a new one.”

It felt good...not because I upset him, but because I called him out in public for his dishonesty and he had no good answer other than perpetuating his biased hate which was on full display.

Carter had been in hospice for a very long time and his death was inevitable. From my perspective, it was long overdue. I ask myself why God gives people like this, who have such evil in their hearts, so many extra years. My only explanation, or rationalization, is maybe God was giving him a chance to repent and Jimmy Carter needed that many more years to do so.

I’m not convinced that he did repent and while it would be appropriate to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and say he never did anything good, that would be dishonest. Carter was a failed one-term president and he ambiguously called for and justified the terrorist murder of my people. That disqualifies him from sainthood or many of the other honors and memories that others will share in the days to come.

When remembering his life, let us remember that Carter at least indirectly caused tremendous pain and suffering and death – something that building houses for the poor cannot fully redeem or compensate for.