Once again, former president Jimmy Carter is demonstrating severely impaired judgment – this time it's regarding Hamas. According to published reports, Carter will meet in Syria on April 18 with the head of the terrorist group Hamas, Khaled Meshal.  This represents yet another misdirected effort by Carter to meddle in the Middle East.

While this meeting gives legitimacy to a terrorist group, it also defies the U.S. government's policy of isolating Hamas – designated as a terrorist group by the State Department.  And Carter's plan defies common sense.

Hamas continues to accumulate massive amounts of weapons, and continues to use its own population as a shield for its attacks on Israel. When Israel vacated Gaza last year, Hamas took the opportunity to step up attacks against Israel. 

With a new round of peace talks slated between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, Carter's meeting with terrorists is particularly troubling and could serve to undermine legitimate peace negotiations.

"There can be no dialogue with this terrorist organization," said BBI Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin. "Israel cannot negotiate with a group that refuses to recognize its very right to exist. Carter is naïve to think that this group wants peace. This group wants nothing more than to destroy Israel."

For all of its nearly 60 years, Israel has been on the defensive from terror groups such as Hamas. For Carter to ignore that history is unjust and simplistic. It is unfortunate that Israeli civilians may pay the price for his folly.

"Hamas uses its chokehold on Gaza to launch attacks against Israel's civilian population in its relentless effort to destroy the Jewish state – not to gain a seat at any peace negotiations," BBI President Moishe Smith said. "By raining rockets down on the Israeli civilians of Sderot, Ashkelon, and other cities, Hamas proves over and over that it has no interest in peace with Israel."

Carter's misguided meddling in the complexities of the region is not surprising. He clearly presented his anti-Israel bias in his book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid." This meeting shows again that he still holds the democracy of Israel accountable for all the ills of the region. Carter continues to conveniently ignore Israel's multiple offers of land for peace, and the multiple rejections of these peace offers by various Palestinian groups.