Associated Press – April 16, 2008
PHILADELPHIA – Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday criticized former President Jimmy Carter for meeting with leaders of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas as he tried to reassure Jewish voters that his candidacy isn’t a threat to them or U.S. support for Israel.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s comments, made to a group of Jewish leaders here, were his first on Carter’s controversial meeting scheduled this week in Egypt.
Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain called on Obama to repudiate Carter in a speech to The Associated Press Monday.
Obama told the Jewish group he had a “fundamental disagreement” with Carter, who was rebuffed by Israeli leaders during a peace mission to the Middle East this week.
“We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel’s destruction,” Obama said.
“We should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and abide by past agreements.”
The Illinois senator has been working to reassure Jewish voters nervous about his candidacy in the wake of publicity about anti-Israel sentiments expressed by his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and criticism from rival Hillary Rodham Clinton during a February debate that he hadn’t immediately rejected an endorsement from black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan. Obama responded that he already denounced Farrakhan, but would reject his support as well.
Obama told the group that he had not been aware of Wright’s more incendiary speeches before launching his presidential campaign last year, even though he had been a member of Wright’s congregation nearly 20 years. Obama said he had spoken to Wright and privately conveyed his concerns about some of his sermons once he learned of their content. But he acknowledged that he had declined to be more public in his criticism until recently, since Wright was preparing to retire from ministry at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ.
“You make a decision about how are you going to handle it,” Obama said. “Do you publicly denounce his comments? Do you privately express concern but recognize you are still part of a broader church community that is going to be transitioning? I chose the latter.”
Obama has stepped up his outreach to the Jewish community in recent weeks after videos of Wright’s speeches surfaced where he criticized Israel and expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause.
Among other things, Wright has denounced Israel as racist and suggested tension between Israel and the Palestinians had contributed to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Obama also met privately with about 100 Jewish leaders in Ohio before that state’s primary March 4.
Obama has been the subject of persistent Internet rumors suggesting he is a Muslim who was educated at a Madrassah in Indonesia and took the oath of office with his hand on a Quran. Obama did spend part of his childhood in Indonesia but attended Catholic and public schools there. He took the oath of office on a Bible.
Obama delivered a well-received speech last month addressing the Wright controversy, in which he criticized many of his former pastor’s views. But the issue has continued to dog him on his campaign, and officials with Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign have acknowledged raising the Wright issue with “superdelegates” who may decide the Democratic nomination as evidence of electability problems Obama might have if he’s the party’s candidate in November.
Obama told Jewish leader he would work as president to diminish tensions between the black and Jewish communities, noting that both groups shared the experience of suffering discrimination.
Obama also said at the meeting that he’s willing to make diplomatic overtures to Iran even thought it had which has funded Hamas and other militant groups.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted April 16, 2008 at 9:47 pm
The power of the Israeli lobby is very harmful to the US and this is just one example. Neither party will advance a nominee who’s unbiased on the Middle east and that’s tragic for the world, for us and even for Israel.
As for Carter, he’s beyond worrying about that lobby and makes a lot more sense than anyone else in the public eye on those issues, so of course McCain will go after him and use it as a wedge issue between Democrats.
McCain is kind of slow on economics and the religion of Iran but he’s got very slick political consultants.
posted April 16, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Has it ever dawned on you that Israel is our only reliable idol in the Middle East, while the only difference between the Saudis on one end and the Iranians on the other is the level of evil their governments are?
Israeli people love the U.S. They look at us as friends. No one else in the Middle East is like that.
But you would sell them out the Arabs and let them be driven into the sea. Thank G-D they have nuclear weapons if people like you ever get control of the united stated States and abandon Israel, or worse, assist the Arab states in annihilating them.
posted April 16, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Scott, calm down. Show me where I talked about abandoning Israel or driving it into the sea.
As for it being good they have nuclear weapons, it justifies their neighbors trying to get nuclear weapons.
As for Israel being a reliable idol (ally? Freudian slip?) what have they done for us? We help them all the time but in doing so we get in Dutch (pun sort of intended) with other people who have at times been our friends and whom we could sure use as our friends.
As for the Israeli people, I have no complaint against them except those who steal Palestinian land and the governments they often elect. Of course the rest of the world can hold the governments we sometimes elect against us. But given the help we’ve given Israel it would be the height of ingratitude if the Israeli people didn’t look at us as friends. And given the way they treat the Palestinians and Lebanon (leaving a million buried cluster bombs!) and the way we support whatever they do, why wouldn’t we have lost a lot of friends in the Middle East?
Sorry, Scott but my country is the US and I see our pro-Israeli policy as a weight around our neck we especially don’t need when we are in a real war. We need to get neutral there and there’s no prospect of it happening.
posted April 17, 2008 at 7:48 am
Yes, well Jews have always been a weight around the neck of Xians /gentiles. Heck, what did Germany say? “The Jews are our misfortune.”
Very little difference in your statements.
But you have a very warped sense of who your enemies are. If you think the Arabs are your friends…ROTFLMAO.
posted April 17, 2008 at 8:49 am
Scott, where did I mention Jews. Actually, as I’ve said here a few times, the Jews and the world would be better off if they left Israel to the Palestinians who owned most of it earlier and moved to the US. I’d be happy for them to do that. So don’t be acusing me of anti-Semitism.
But that’s standard operating procedure for the Israel lobby when someone actually challenges it so it’s not surprising you do it.
And as far as Israel being our friend, ask the surviving crew of the USS Liberty or the families of the 34 crew members Israel killed on a clear day with the US flag flying on it.
Or just tell me how we have benefited from this friendship. Israel benefits to the tune of billions of dollars a year and cover in the UN for whatever they do. What do we get out of it but enemies we wouldn’t otherwise have?
posted April 17, 2008 at 10:16 am
I am getting weary of candidates living in constant fear of their associations. Instead, Iwould prefer a candidate who admits easily with whom they met and offers a candid summary of why they thought that meeting was worthwhile. So what if Carter met with Hammas leaders?! At least he spoke with them. That is far better than demonizing an unknown opponent and increasing the adversarial concerns. Sure, I am interested in knowing with whom the candidates meet professionally. But I prefer a candidate who is known by all the parties with whom we must deal rather than having to speand time learning, introducing and sizing them up.
If this attitude keeps up we are sure to elect an aloof and incapable person who has no clue how to deal with international leaders. We have done this in the last 2 elections,and look at the mess we are in.
posted April 17, 2008 at 10:19 am
“Israeli people love the U.S. They look at us as friends. No one else in the Middle East is like that.”
Um, that might be because the U.S. ISN’T a “friend” to any other M.E. country. Perhaps a customer (can YOU say “Big Oil”, or “HalliburtonCheney”?), but “friends”??? HA!
posted April 17, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Jimmy Carter is trying to open a dialogue.
He is not a threat to Israel, nor making deals. He is trying to open a dialogue that might someday lead to a peaceful resolution.
Jimmy Carter is a humanitarian, and this capacity is greatly needed when we are looked at as EVIL in most of the Middle East.
As a parent and a grandparent, I know that sometimes a third party can help to recognise bridges instead of bombs. By being neutral, is the only way to be fair.
posted April 17, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I agree with Obama in the first paragraph of this article. It was unwise for Carter, a democrat, to meet with Hamas at this period of campaigning. He should have thought ahead of the implications that Jewish people in this country might conclude thinking democrats would not uphold their relatives in Israel. I understand his humanitarian thinking but it could have waited. For everything there is a season.