Unless those two countries are giving these things away, Hamas has been buying them. So instead of spending money for food and humanitarian supplies, apparently Hamas opted for weaponry and aggression. Somehow, however, it is Israel’s fault that the humanitarian flow of goods into Gaza is down to a trickle, in the face of an average of 361 rocket and mortar attacks a month of imported weaponry.
Carter is correct that this war could have been avoided, but not for the reasons he’d have you believe. All Hamas has to do is disavow aggression, violence and its stated mission of the destruction of Israel. All it has to do is spend its money on food and medicine instead of rockets and mortars.
The reason this war wasn’t avoidable is Hamas has an intransigent position that refuses all efforts at a peace accord with Israel. Until they change that position and enter into good faith peace negotiations then, at least as I see it, the onus of the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza rests solely and squarely on them and no one else.
And, I’ll tell you this; Carter’s self-justification exemplifies what I was talking about the other day, [2]when I indicated that Israel was reacting at least in part to another follower of Carter Foreign Policy heading to the WH.