Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Hier Responds to President Jimmy Carter’s Advice to President Trump on Middle East Peace

Earlier today, President Jimmy Carter urged President Trump to push for peace in the Middle East telling CNN, "I hope that President Trump will make progress in the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians and that he will bring justice to the Palestinians andalleviation of their long-term —50-year now — suffering as an occupied territory."

In response to his statement, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Simon Wiesenthal Center Founder and Dean said, “Unfortunately, Jimmy Carter is the wrong person giving President Trumpadvice on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Carter refuses to recognize that this is not a conflict between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeligovernment and this has no relationship to his negotiations between Israel and Egypt.”

Hier continued, “Rather, the current conflict is between Israel and two separate Palestinian entities, one of them controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization committed tothe destruction of Israel,” adding, “No Israeli Prime Minister, is going to make peace with two separate Palestine states.”

"The only solution is the removal of Hamas from power in Gaza,” Rabbi Hier continued.

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO atinternational agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).