EX-PRESIDENT Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn lay a wreath at the grave of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during their visit to the West Bank town of Ramallah April  15.

Carter ‘bigot,’ says Israeli envoy

By JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA)—Israel’s U.N. ambassador called Jimmy Carter a “bigot” for meeting with Hamas leaders last month.

Ambassador Dan Gillerman made the remarks at a Washington press luncheon held by the Israel advocacy group The Israel Project, The Associated Press reported.


Carter, Gillerman said, “went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas.”

Gillerman said it was a shame to see Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, “turn into what I believe to be a bigot.”

Meanwhile, in Washington, two Republican congressmen introduced legislation that would deny the Carter Center federal dollars.

U.S. Reps. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.) and Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) introduced the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals Act, or CARTER Act, last month in the wake of Carter’s recent outreach to Hamas.

“America must speak with one voice against our terrorist enemies,” Knollenberg said in a statement. “It sends a fundamentally troubling message when an American dignitary is engaged in dialogue with terrorists. My legislation will make sure that taxpayer dollars are not being used to support discussions or negotiations with terrorist groups.”

Carter’s Atlanta-based center focuses mostly on international development. The former president met with Hamas officials against the advice of the Bush administration. He defended his meetings as his attempt to help bring an end to the violence on the Israel-Gaza Strip border.