The Supreme Court recently ruled to criminalize speech that it says will aid or provide advice in any way to a so called terrorist organization. Even if the a person or group is trying to convince a "terrorist" group to not engage in terrorism or violence and join peaceful negotiations as a way to reach its goals.
As described in the NYT citation below, the U.S. Justice Department should indict President Jimmy Carter. While Attorney General Holder is at it he could find out which U.S. diplomats have held "back channel" meetings with Hamas, or the Kurds, or the Talliban to see if they should be indicted for trying to get them to negotiate with someone (Israel, the US, Karzi, the Iraqi prime minister... anyone, whoever). Actually Holder could indict Obama and Hillary too if they had told a diplomat to have such a meeting or had guilty knowledge of one.
excerpt from the New York Times:
GAZA
Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday that he urged Hamas leaders during a high-profile meeting here to take steps necessary to become accepted by the leading Western nations. Mr. Carter is the most prominent American figure to have met with the Hamas government that took over Gaza two years ago, after the Palestinian Authority forces were routed in a brief but bloody factional war. Hamas welcomed Mr. Carter’s visit as a significant step in its quest for international legitimacy.
d
Ismail Haniya, the leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, and Mr. Carter held a joint press conference where an American flag was displayed alongside a Palestinian national flag behind the speakers on the podium. There were no green Hamas flags in sight.
It was Mr. Haniya’s most public appearance since Israel ended its devastating three-week military campaign against Hamas in Gaza in January, which Israel said was intended to halt rocket fire by Gaza militants against southern Israel.
Striking a conciliatory tone, Mr. Haniya said Hamas would favor the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with full sovereignty, adding, “We are pushing for the realization of this Palestinian national dream.”
Mr. Haniya also said that Mr. Carter’s visit to Gaza was particularly important coming after two years of economic “siege” and after the “Israeli aggression.” He noted that it followed the change in the American administration and President Barack Obama’s address in Cairo, in which Mr. Haniya said he heard a “different language.”
Both Israel and Hamas declared separate, informal cease-fires after last winter’s war, but Israel continues to impose a punishing economic blockade that allows in only basic provisions for the 1.5 million residents of the isolated coastal strip.
Israel, the United States and the European Union classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. They have set three conditions for dealing with Hamas, saying it must renounce all violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist and accept all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Hamas has so far refused to comply.
Hamas leaders have said they will never recognize Israel, and will only offer a long-term truce, not a full fledged peace treaty, in return for a Palestinian state.
Mr. Carter emphasized that he was in Gaza as a private citizen, not as a representative of his government. But he said he would write a report on his visit to the region for the Obama administration on his return.
In a three-hour meeting with Hamas government officials and senior representatives of the group, Mr. Carter told the group to find a mechanism that would allow it to meet the conditions set by international players, according to Ahmed Yousef, the Hamas deputy foreign minister who attended the meeting.
In a brief interview before the meeting, Mr. Carter said that in order to break the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, “first of all Hamas has to be accepted by the international community as a legitimate player in the future, and that is what I am trying to do today.”....Yo Jimmy! Go directly to jail.
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