By Seth Mandel

The Jewish State

Our tradition teaches us, in Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot), "Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly."

Because Joshua, an exemplar of piety, humility, and dedication, gave over the stewardship of Torah education and leadership to the Elders of the Jewish people, it is a safe assumption -- and one that would be proven correct -- that these Elders were worthy trustees of God's word.

Although the Jewish people are a "light unto the nations," the examples we set are sometimes bungled by the outside world in its various attempts to follow in those footsteps.

That would explain The Elders, a newly formed supergroup of worldly, elder statesmen led by Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter. Oy.

The idea was Peter Gabriel's, and it began in 1999 when, according to The Elders Web site, Gabriel approached British business mogul Richard Branson about forming "a new gathering of world leaders who will come together and guide and support our 'global village.' For their role model they looked to traditional village elders, trusted by their people to resolve conflict within their communities."

Gabriel got some help from another musical healer, Yusuf Islam, better known as Cat Stevens, who was deported in September 2004 for his alleged funding of the Hamas terrorist organization, and on more than one occasion supported the hypothetical execution of Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses."

Elders Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, announced the launch of this Chelm-like council July 18, Mandela's 89^th birthday.

Chaired by Tutu, The Elders, which the Wall Street Journal's Joseph Malchow called "instances of the universal human temptation to confuse age with wisdom," will feature Carter, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus.

In their public statement announcing their formation, The Elders tell us that they "will use their unique collective skills to catalyze peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts."

Tutu, as the chair of the group, is in a perfect position to use his "unique skills," such as those he has displayed in the past where he calls Israel "Palestine" and then urges divestment from Israel. The apparent contradiction of divesting from a country that doesn't exist would vex the average person, but not someone with Tutu's "unique skills."

Robinson, the former president of Ireland, said her vision for The Elders will be "to remind the world that we actually have universal values that are accepted by every government in the world, and yet they are not being implemented."

Of course, championing the values that every single country accepts is not setting the bar very high. But Robinson knows that-- she must, because as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Robinson presided over the disastrous conference at Durban, South Africa, which Middle East Quarterly editor Michael Rubin, writing in the National Review Online, called "the greatest single display of anti-Semitism in 50 years."

He was not exaggerating. And her resume makes it difficult to give Robinson the benefit of the doubt and claim that she was simply unable to stop the madness.

Robinson's presidency of Ireland, from 1990-97, was a perfect warm-up act for Durban. Via the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Michael Rubin laid out Robinson's tenure as president and how it affected the Israeli-Arab conflict. Documents seized by Israel from the Palestinian Authority help make it clear that Robinson and Yasser Arafat could have switched places and not much would have changed on either front.

During the last four years of Robinson's presidency, the Palestinian Authority was spending $9 million of European Union aid money a month to pay the organizers of terror attacks against civilians. For part of that time, Robinson's Ireland even held the presidency of the E.U.

During that stretch, Palestinian violence reached its pinnacle at the same time funding from the E.U. hit its peak, helping Arafat to buy $50 million of Iranian weapons to be aimed and fired at Israeli civilians, and millions more that ended up in Arafat's deep pockets.

Looking the other way in Rwanda, Lebanon, and Sudan also helped Robinson keep her hands clean from toil and sweat but soaked with blood.

"This group of Elders will bring hope and wisdom back into the world," Richard Branson said at the announcement of the council. Kofi Annan has a troubled past, but his own "wisdom" never shone brighter than when, after it became apparent that Israel wasn't responsible for the 2006 Beit Lahiya Gaza beach blast, Annan attempted to refute the claim and put the blame back squarely on Israel.

"I don't believe it is plausible that the Palestinians planted charges in a place where civilians often spend their time," Annan told the London daily Al-Hayat in a moment of unparalleled luminosity.

And now we come to our old friend Jimmy Carter.

Carter's recent misdeeds concerning Israel and the Jewish people are so public and so numerous that we will not labor to repeat them all. His book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" generated the publicity Carter wanted, but it backfired by encouraging the relentless scrutiny that led to its exposure as a pack of uninspired lies and, lacking any serious research (he didn't even read Dennis Ross's book on the Clinton-era negotiations?!?) or context, a miserable manipulation of the historical record.

But of all The Elders, Carter has the most flawed record of diplomatic achievement, leaving precious few questions about what he will bring to the council.

"I see The Elders as a small but independent group that may fill an existing void in the world community," Carter said at the council's launch. "Almost impervious to the consequences of outside criticism, there will be opportunities for unrestrained analysis of important and complex issues, the evolution of suggestions, and for sharing our ideas with the general public and with others who might take action to resolve problems."

If you made it through the whole quote without laughing, a tip of the hat is in order.
What happens when you mix being "impervious to the consequences of outside criticism" with "the evolution of suggestions" and "sharing our ideas"? What rises to the top of that oil-and-water concoction?

In any case, it is the "unrestrained analysis of important and complex issues" that is truly preposterous coming from Carter. The sultans and monarchs of Oman, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the government of United Arab Emirates (UAE) have given Carte's Georgia-based Carter Center millions of dollars. Seventeen of the 19 September 11 hijackers were reportedly from Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Just the thought of Carter, a former President of the United States, accepting millions from the same hands that fed the 9/11 hijackers should make anyone cringe, as well as question his objectivity when it comes to resolving conflict in a world that is waist-deep in Islamist conspiracy.

This dark portion of Carter's work has been discussed on these pages in the recent past. When The Jewish State printed an op-ed that claimed Carter's heart may have been in the right place but that his book helped neither the Israelis nor the Arabs, a reader responded with a letter reminding us and our readers that in 1980, while discussing his prospects of reelection, Carter told his advisors "If I get back in, I'm going to [expletive] the Jews."

And my father, Ocean County's Jewish Community Relations Council Chairman Larry Mandel, wrote a column in our sister publication, The Jewish Journal, exposing the Arab Lobby's influence on American-Israel relations dating back five decades. He also noted that 10 of Osama bin Laden's brothers jointly donated $1 million to the Carter Center.

And it is important that we not forget the destruction of democracy wreaked by Carter on the African nation of Zimbabwe.

After the nonviolent Bishop Abel Muzorewa won Zimbabwe's first democratic election in 1979, then-U.S. President Carter turned his back on the popular bishop, refusing to lift sanctions on the country even after Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on Carter to do just that.

The reason Carter wouldn't lift sanctions on the democratically elected government? The elections didn't include a man who refused to participate, instead choosing to murder voters and terrorize the nation. His name was Robert Mugabe.

Prior to the free elections, Mugabe released a death list of 50 people involved in the settlement which brought about the elections, calling them "black bourgeoisie," "traitors," and "capitalist vultures." Mugabe also said of anyone in Zimbabwe who didn'?t approve of Marxism "we will have to reeducate them."

When Carter refused to lift the sanctions on Muzorewa's government, Muzorewa personally came to the U.S. to appeal to Carter's (apparently nonexistent) sense of freedom and fairness.

But on the orders of African nations who threatened to stop supplying the U.S. with oil, Carter was unwilling to even meet with the bishop.

The following year, Carter forced a second election down the throats of the suffering Zimbabweans. His friend Mugabe, who stationed his guerrilla forces in the voting villages, won. British election commissioner Sir John Boynton reported that Mugabe and his thugs murdered candidates and their supporters during the months leading up to the election.

In full form, Carter declared the election to be "free and fair" and lifted sanctions. James Kirchick, writing in The Weekly Standard, reminded readers of Muzorewa's prophetic warning that, if Mugabe won, "Any talk of democracy, freedom, and independence will be turned into an impossible dream. . . . This country will find itself wallowing in the dust of poverty, misery, and starvation."

That is about the best one can say about Zimbabwe at this point. Mugabe, now 83, has driven it to economic collapse; the country has the lowest life expectancy on the planet and a six-digit inflation that has enabled Mugabe's government to pocket about 90 percent of the incoming foreign aid. A third of its population have already fled.

Those that remain, however, face new elections in 2008. Citizens are begging the 82-year-old Muzorewa to run, but he hasn't committed to it. Alas, the reports of election rigging and fraud have already begun.

Some hope remains for a regime change. And who knows? Maybe if Mugabe finally loses, he'll have a second career ahead of him.

There may just be a spot for Mugabe among The Elders.