The Carter Center released the following press release today:
Carter Center Calls for Accountability After Corrie Verdict
Atlanta….On Aug. 28, the district court in Haifa, Israel, ruled that the State of Israel was not responsible for the 2003 killing of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old U.S. peace activist who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she attempted to nonviolently prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Israel’s policy of home demolitions has been widely criticized by human rights organizations as a form of collective punishment. It violates Israel’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions. The Corrie family had requested $1 in symbolic damages and legal expenses.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro and human rights groups and have criticized Israel’s investigation of the case for a lack of thoroughness, transparency, and credibility.
“The killing of an American peace activist is unacceptable,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. “The court’s decision confirms a climate of impunity, which facilitates Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territory.”
Approximately 94 percent of Israeli military investigations of soldiers suspected of violent criminal activity against Palestinians and their property end without indictments, according to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din. 91 percent of investigations into crimes committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians in the Occupied Territory also end without indictment. In this case, the district court judge ruled that the drivers of the bulldozer could not see her, despite eyewitness testimony to the contrary.
In response to the verdict, Rachel Corrie’s parents Cindy and Craig stated “We are deeply saddened and troubled by what we heard today in the court of Judge Oded Gershon. This was a bad day, not only for us, but for human rights, for humanity, the rule of law, and the country of Israel…Rachel was a human being who deserved accountability, and we as her family deserve that too.”
In contrast, the family of James Miller, an Emmy Award-winning British filmmaker killed by Israeli forces in Rafah two months after Corrie’s death, ultimately received over $2 million in damages from the Israeli government. The government of the United Kingdom had threatened to seek the extradition of the Israeli soldiers in question.
“I hope that the U.S. government will use all reasonable means to ensure that the rights of American citizens are protected overseas and that justice is done for the Corrie family,” said former President Carter.
Ah, the anti-Semite speaks.
What next, warning us of the dangers of Apartheid? Ha!
Oh, wait…
Did you even bother to read his book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid?
Oh no, not the “anti-semitism” card! ‘Didn’t see that one coming! Here’s a strange little fact that your Zionist buddies probably forgot to mention to you….Semites are Arabs too. And if you want to talk about semitic tribes…you might want to include a majority of the Arabian peninsula + Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, the Syrians….
But of course you already knew that, huh?
The only ones who bought that lie about Carter are the ones who tell it.
Krauss – Please back up your claim of anti-semitism against former President Carter, or retract it.
Think he was being sarcastic.
Krauss even put in a Ha! to highlight it’s sarcastic in tone…
After Gaza,
New anti- semitism is anti fascism!
Perhaps you missed the sarcasm in Krauss’s post?
I think Krauss is being sarcastic. If he isn’t he can say so.
I think Krauss was being sarcastic.
John
You surely have missed Krauss’ sarcasm here.
I think he was joking.,.. A lot of zionists claim Jimmy Carter is anti Semitic because he dares to demand serious negotiations from Israel.
Will Krauss respond?
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is such an informative book. Had not been clear that that 41 and James Baker had played hardball with U.S. aid to Israel
Thank you, President Carter! I’m looking forward to hearing you speak at the Democratic Convention.
Never! I read it in the Forward, so it must be true.
The only problem I had with Jimmy Carter’s Palestine – Peace, Not Apartheid was that, like his other books (I’ve read them all), he writes like a Sunday school teacher. He seems to take the tone of somebody educating sixth graders. And, like all his books, it reads quite fast, not getting into much depth. Carter is certainly not Robert Fisk when it comes to detail or nuance.
Unfortunately, far too many Americans need that kind of prose and approach when it comes to I/P and many other issues.
It’s sad, but true, in my opinion.
But I do understand your point.
Jimmy Carter is greatly admired in middle America among moderate Protestants and Catholics because of his record after leaving the Presidency on behalf of human rights (peacemaking, voting, etc.) and community service (Habitat for Humanity). He is so well-known for his annual international blitz-build, that some Americans are under the impression that he founded Habitat for Humanity. These moderate Christians are the most likely audience to have read his book — many of whom would have picked it up just because it had his name on it (because the publishers didn’t give it much publicity, he got few interviews on talk shows and what reviews it got were mostly negative). The “Sunday School teacher” tone of the book was a good fit for that audience of moderate Christians, many of whom were totally uninformed about the realities of Israel/Palestine before they read Carter’s book. That’s why Carter is such a threat to the Israel Lobby that they tried to scare people away from even opening its cover with the words “Palestine” and “Apartheid” on it.
On the I/P issue Carter is mostly dealing with the knowledge base of sixth graders. The MSM has made sure of that
President Carter is revered also because he is the reason that Guinea worm disease has almost been eradicated. Which means that President Carter has saved millions of people from horrible suffering.
link to cartercenter.org
ATLANTA…Former U.S. President and Carter Center Founder Jimmy Carter announced today that only three endemic countries remain in the fight against Guinea worm disease, poised to be only the second disease in history—after smallpox—to be eradicated.
“Guinea worm disease is fewer than 1,800 cases away from becoming only the second disease in history to be wiped from Earth,” said President Carter, who was joined by former Nigeria Head of State General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria Federal Minister of Health Prof. Onyebuchi Chuwku, Nigerien Counselor Boubacar Moussa Rilla, and other dignitaries from around the world for the The Carter Center Awards Ceremony for Guinea Worm Eradication to honor Nigeria and Niger.
“Nigeria and Niger’s recent success halting transmission of this ancient and horrible affliction provides yet another vivid reminder of how people in even the most marginalized circumstances can thrive when given the tools and knowledge to help themselves,” President Carter said.
Also known as dracunculiasis, Guinea worm disease is a debilitating parasitic infection that affects people living in remote, poverty-stricken communities. The disease is contracted when people consume water contaminated with infective Guinea worm larvae. After a year, a one-meter-long worm slowly emerges from the body through an agonizingly painful blister in the skin. There are no vaccines or medicines to prevent or treat the disease. Guinea worm is being wiped out chiefly through health education and behavior change, for example using simple tools like water filters to prevent the disease.
Nigeria Guinea Worm Background:
Since 1988, the Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program has worked with the Nigeria Ministry of Health to eliminate Guinea worm disease. At the beginning of the campaign, Nigeria was the most endemic country, reporting over 650,000 cases in all 36 states in its first nationwide survey for the disease. Known locally as the “impoverisher,” Guinea worm disease outbreaks in southeastern Nigeria, alone, cost rice farmers an estimated US $20 annually in the late 1980s. However, through persistence, leadership from individuals like General Gowon, and Nigeria’s contribution of US $2 million of its own funding to The Carter Center for the campaign, Nigeria reported its last case in a 58-year-old woman in southeastern Nigeria in November 2008.
good point, Kathleen
Yes, but the average American has the mental abilities of a sixth grader, he’s writing to a broader audience, the people on this site read lots of books while other Americans Fifty shades of grey is the first book they’ve read since they were assigned homework.
Ok – guess you are joking. If not please provide background. If you are joking, I’m not laughing. Casting aspersions on a US President is not my idea of humor.
When compared to Carter’s intellect most of us would come in as sixth graders. The man is brilliant and fair and has a huge heart and soul.
Look at his comment history… He’s joking
I’m not laughing. Casting aspersions on a US President is not my idea of humor.
to be honest i cringed when i read that top comment. had it been buried in the thread it may not have had the same effect, but as the first comment it just offends me. i wish it wasn’t there. i love jimmy carter, best US president of my lifetime even tho i don’t agree with the carter doctrine.
it’s just not my idea of humor, at all. but i assumed it was humor and he didn’t mean it. still, i have to say i agree with john’s sentiments on this matter wrt carter. cheney is another matter.
The fact that a man like Jimmy Carter could only get one term and a brain-dead dopes like Bonzo and Chimpy McHitler got 2 tells you everything you need to know about the dung heap that is the United States electorate.
Woody
Each nation gets the leaders they deserve. All our presidents were elected, and we will never get a president really elected by the people until we change the voting system to one person = one vote and the elected person must have the majority of 50% + 1 vote the minimum. Our system is out the middle ages when most people could not read or write and the powers be will never change that, because it is not in their interest. A modern system would make it more difficult to cheat, if not impossible.
I personally was not happy with the Carter presidency, however, since he left the WH he did more good than any of our president ever did. In our political enviorment it takes guts to criticise zionism in general and Israel in particular.
Jimmy Carter is an honest man who cares for those who have no power to form their destiny. Hat off to you, Mr. President
The I lobby did everything in their power to get rid of Carter. Knew he was serious about dealing with the I/P issue in a fair way. They could not have that
I had a grumpy old history teacher my sophomore year in college, who said, that in the future, they’re going to build monuments to Jimmy Carter because he was right on so many things.
IMPUNITY, the word of the day for Israel bashers. Like a scholl of herrings turning suddenly like a single fish, the anti-Israel crowd picked up and began bashing the “impunity” nail.
Just count the “impunities” in the headings or summies of the articles. After all, the facts are thin on the ground, so must make do with “impunity”.
@asherpat,
I agree! “Total disregard and indifference to gentile life” would be a much more suitable way to articulate it, but you know, that takes up so much column space.
The “Israel bashers”, by the way, are in reality people like the driver of that bulldozer, Judge Oded Gershon, Benjamin Netanyahu, and all the blind supporters of the ongoing crimes carried out by the “Jewish State.” And yes, I count you among that crowd. The whole lot of you bash the credibility and respect that some people in the world once had for Israel, and uncover the true evil inherent in the Zionist project.
Hehehe yeah, Hasbra zionists don’t have any words or phrases that they use….
Except- “No partner for peace”, “right to exist”, “demographic threat”, “push us into the sea”….
>> Just count the “impunities” in the headings or summies of the articles. After all, the facts are thin on the ground, so must make do with “impunity”.
im·pu·ni·ty (/ɪmˈpyunɪti/)
1. exemption from punishment.
2. immunity from detrimental effects, as of an action.
Yup, impunity.
Or did I once again miss the part where the “Jewish State” is being held accountable for its use of terrorism and ethnic cleansing, for being an oppressive, colonialist, expansionist and supremacist state, and for maintaining a 60+ years, ON-GOING and offensive (i.e., not defensive) campaign of aggression, oppression, theft, colonization, destruction and murder?
No, I didn’t think so.
im·pu·ni·ty (/ɪmˈpyunɪti/)
1. exemption from punishment.
2. immunity from detrimental effects, as of an action.
Yup, impunity.
ROME STATUTE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
The States Parties to this Statute,
…
Determined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes,
…
Have agreed as follows
…
If the acceptance of a State which is not a Party to this Statute is required under paragraph 2, that State may, by declaration lodged with the Registrar, accept the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court with respect to the crime in question. The accepting State shall cooperate with the Court without any delay or exception in accordance with Part 9.
link to untreaty.un.org
A very very unfunny reference to Rachel Corrie’s murder, asherpat.
Shame on you.
It is probably funny for asherpat. It is almost like US drone operators calling their victims bug splat.
Carter is (was?) slated to speak at the Democratic (if only!) National Convention. Let’s see if that actually happens now.
Thank you President Carter!
Just a little while ago, a roman citizen could cry out: Civis romanus est! and expect that any foreign government would respect his or her person.
In the the great scandal prosecuted by Cicero against Verres, a particularly rapacious governor of Sicily, what appears to cause him to flee for his life was not the evidence of grand scale theft, of casual murder and cruelty, but the testimony that Publius Gavius called out only that phrase while being beaten (from memory) to death.
That Americans are now being murdered casually and with no repercussions is quite remarkable.
Another thank you President Carter.
So absolutely insane. Rachel Corrie on Palestinian land trying to stop Israel from demolishing another Palestinian home on their land and she is crushed by Israel. And the judge says Israel was conducting an act or war and everything goes in an act or war on Palestinian land.
for Rachel
link to vimeo.com
poor President Carter.
Foolish enough to speak the truth about Israel. Naturally the lobby will never forgive him.
Carter is one of Israel’s best friends. Tough to tell a friend that they are a murderous junkie about to drive off a cliff by doing yourself and your extended family immeasurable harm. Carter has been a true friend to Israel based on the 67 border. You can google clip after clip of Carter speaking about the I/P conflict in the clearest, concrete way. No anger held because of the many false claims made against him by the I lobby. Just clear, concrete interest in witnessing peace and fairness in the I/P situation. You can not ruffle that man’s feathers. His intent is embedded in love and the truth.
Thank you, President Carter, for speaking the truth of this matter.
“In contrast, the family of James Miller, an Emmy Award-winning British filmmaker killed by Israeli forces in Rafah two months after Corrie’s death, ultimately received over $2 million in damages from the Israeli government.”
So, obviously, claiming that the IDF is never held responsible is a lie. This was an accident, and the ISM activists have every reason to lie about it and suggest that it wasn’t. The Corries got their day in court. They lost.
Hoppy, what you’ve said here is an absolute unadulterated lie, unless you are wholly ignorant of the facts, in which case you should feel shame, if have the ability, for being so ignorant.
The i”d”f murdered Miller and because they’re apparently incapable of telling the truth, initially lied and said he was shot in the back (trying to implicate the Palestinians in the israeli’s crimes [par for the course for you zios]) The israelis then said that it didn’t matter, blamed Miller like they blamed Corrie, and held they wouldn’t charge the bastard who murdered Miller.
After the British coroner’s inquest determined that it was most likely a cold-blooded murder, the was a request for the British to file criminal action in the UK. The family filed a civil suit against the israeli government. The israeli agree to pay the money to Miller’s family on the condition that no indictment was made and no extradition request was made by the UK.
So your statement about these terrorist in the i”d”f being held responsible was a complete and utter, absolute and total untruth. (Whether you’re a flat out liar or simply an ignorant blowhard is to be determined…) The gunman who shot Miller was never charged, and israel paid blood money solely to insure that the i”d”f wasn’t held responsible.
You should be ashamed for spreading such filthy falsehoods.
And the difference between that case and this one is that the UK isn’t run by puppets, dancing to the strings of zios.
The British government went after Israel lock stock and barrel unlike the US state dept and the Corrie case
Hopbrains, have you ever seen any of the raw footage of James Miller being murdered? He and the rest of the crew were waving flags, shouting out that they were media, and it was blatantly clear that he was murdered by an Israeli goon. And no, the IOF was not “held responsible”, money was handed over to a widow with two small children in order to make the case go away.
Iirc, Tom Hurndall’s murder may be on film too.
This was the very rare case when american tax dollars were used for a good cause!!
“Hopbrains, have you ever seen any of the raw footage of James Miller being murdered?”
Hoppy’s a coward who makes this libel and then disappears. Pathetic.