Despite the controversy swirling around the ex-president, Jimmy Carter downplayed the politics in his appearance at the Islamic Students of North America (ISNA). He was still sure to mention that the Carter center will work with all [Israel’s] neighbors for peace. The former president addressed the crimes and obstacles facing women, particularly in the Muslim world.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, conservative news outlets were outraged that Jimmy Carter was speaking at ISNA , because of allegations that the group was financially linked to Hamas. Accusations that continue to hurt the organization’s reputation as a voice of the American Muslim community.
Carter also became a target because of his op-ed calling for Western governments to recognize Hamas as a legitimate political actor .
Former president Carter left all that behind in his ISNA appearance. Instead focusing on the blight of women in the Muslim world, Jimmy Carter rolled off some particularly startling statistics. He said that as many as 160 million women were not in the world today, because of infanticide and abortions prompted by a premium placed on having boys.
Carter quoted from the Qur’an, saying that “men and women were created equally from one soul,” and he hoped that the audience would “use the principles of Allah to bring peace and justice to all.”
Jimmy Carter did mention the crisis between Gaza and Israel when discussing the work of the Carter Center, saying,
“Our people were there our people were there in 2008, 2009, 2012, and this year, when a terrible bombardment of Gaza, destroyed so many homes, hospitals and schools. So one of our major commitments is to continue and we continue to meet with the people in the Middle East who can bring peace to Israel and to all its neighbors, then bring justice and human rights to people and its neighbors.”
Then Carter gave the conditions the Carter Center thought we best for the future of the middle east.
“We follow the basic principles of the United Nations, the United States Government and all the European countries, and most countries on Earth, and that is that Israel should withdraw from all the occupied territories to the 1967 borders modified only by an agreed delineation of a little more territory from Israel, near Jerusalem, in exchange for property given to the Palestinians in their own homeland.”
Highlights from Jimmy Carter’s speech to ISNA can be found here and here .
[Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons ]