More than 50 members of Congress called on Jimmy Carter not to meet with Hamas’ exiled leader. The letter, signed by Democrats and Republicans, listed the names of 26 Americans killed by Hamas and urged the former U.S. president not to proceed with a planned meeting with Khaled Mashaal in Damascus “President Carter,” the letter said, “do not meet with the man who ordered their deaths.” Among the signatories were 10 Jewish representatives, including Democrats Eliot Engel, Jerrold Nadler and Anthony Weiner of New York; Robert Wexler and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida; Shelley Berkley of Nevada; Brad Sherman of California; and Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, also signed.
A separate letter to Carter urging him to cancel the meeting was sent Wednesday by Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.
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