Israelis primarily remembered Jimmy Carter for the Camp David Accords, the Iranian Revolution, and his advocacy for Soviet Jewry.
Carter, who was president from 1976-1980, died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday at the age of 100.
“It’s difficult to say how sad it is when a person 100 years old passes away,” former Soviet dissident and refusenik Natan Sharansky told The Press Service of Israel. “We all dream to be in a clear mind and live so long.”
Sharansky was arrested in 1977, convicted of spying and treason in a trial denounced by human rights activists. After nine years in prison, he was released in 1986 as part of a prisoner exchange involving several spies. Sharansky’s imprisonment drew attention to the plight of Soviet Jews being denied the right to emigrate.