Former US President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100

Former President Carter. (Nir Levy/Shutterstock) Former US President Carter. (Nir Levy/Shutterstock)

Carter presided over peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt. Post-presidency, he accused Israel of being an apartheid state, and suggested Hamas was a legitimate negotiating partner.

By Andrew Bernard, JNS and United with Israel Staff

Former President Jimmy Carter died “peacefully” at his home in Plains, Ga., surrounded by family on Sunday at the age of 100, the Carter Center announced.

Carter’s term in office from 1977 to 1981 was defined by what he described in a 1979 speech as a “crisis of confidence” and what others termed “malaise”: high unemployment, double-digit inflation and slow economic growth.

In foreign policy, he presided over some of the most significant developments of the Cold War, and many of his decisions remain controversial. In 1977, Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaty, which handed over control of the U.S. Panama Canal Zone to the Panamanians in 1979 and the canal itself to them in 1999. (On Dec. 21, President-elect Donald Trump accused Panama of violating that treaty, saying that if Panama did not change its behavior he would “demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full.”)

In 1978, Carter led the Camp David negotiations that made peace between Israel and Egypt—the first peace treaty establishing relations between the Jewish state and one of its Arab neighbors.

The Iranian revolution and the subsequent oil crisis and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan—all in 1979—posed a sufficient threat to U.S. energy security to prompt Carter to announce that Washington would respond militarily to threats to its interests in the Persian Gulf under the eponymous “Carter Doctrine.” (That doctrine remains a basis for U.S. policy in the region.)

Carter formally severed relations with Iran in 1980, five months after the start of the Iran hostage crisis, in which student revolutionaries seized the U.S. embassy compound and took 66 American hostages, holding them for 444 days until the day Carter left office on Jan. 20, 1981.

Amid the domestic and foreign policy crises, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in a landslide in 1980, winning 44 states and carrying the popular vote by 10 points.

In his nearly 44 years post-presidency, he devoted himself to humanitarian projects through the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

The Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee awarded Carter the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

In 2006, he published a book called “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.”

He claimed that Israel is an apartheid state more segregated than apartheid South Africa was, that Hamas was “willing to accept Israel” and could be treated as a negotiating partner, and that the Israel Lobby crushes any politician who stands against it.

Jimmy Carter called Israel an Apartheid state, said Hamas was willing to negotiate fairly but Israel refuses to do so and instead wants to continue its genocidal occupation, and the Israel lobby destroys any politicians who dare go against it. Watch all the liberals erase this pic.twitter.com/Sz2UuB9zpg

— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) December 29, 2024

U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden stated that “America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian.”

“With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless and always advocate for the least among us,” the president and first lady stated. “He saved, lifted and changed the lives of people all across the globe.”

Biden added that he was ordering that an official state funeral be held in Washington for the former president.

Trump stated that “those of us who have been fortunate to have served as president understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the greatest nation in history.”

“The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude,” Trump stated. “Melania and I are thinking warmly of the Carter family and their loved ones during this difficult time. We urge everyone to keep them in their hearts and prayers.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also expressed condolences, saying, “Today the world says goodbye to a brave leader: the 39th President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter.”

“In recent years I had the pleasure of calling him and thanking him for his historic efforts to bring together two great leaders, Begin and Sadat, and forging a peace between Israel and Egypt that remains an anchor of stability throughout the Middle East and North Africa many decades later. His legacy will be defined by his deep commitment to forging peace between nations,” he added.

“On behalf of the Israeli people, I send my condolences to his family, his loved ones, and to the American people,” Herzog said.