OPINION

East v. West on Immigration

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Countries in the Middle East have refused to take in Palestinian refugees fleeing the fighting in Gaza. In the West, boatloads of immigrants are absorbed year after year, oftentimes to the detriment of the local culture.

One of the challenges of Israel’s military activities in Gaza is the civilian population living there. Unlike Hamas and other Muslim terror groups, Israel has never targeted civilians. Yes, civilians have been killed in attacks directed against terrorists, but Israel has always focused its attacks on terror or military targets. What do you do with two million civilians who ostensibly are not members of Hamas, though they most likely support the terror group and its activities? The only exits from Gaza are the heavily patrolled Mediterranean Ocean, the Rafiah crossing with Egypt, and several closed crossings into Israel. It is important to note that apparently, some of the 17,000 workers allowed to move daily from Gaza into Israel provided Hamas with detailed information on Israeli territory, and it has been reported that some of those attacked recognized their attackers. This is the thanks for helping Gazans earn a living.

So when countries like Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other “friends” were approached about taking in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, they said without hesitation that they did not want them. Don’t they want to help their “brothers”? Don’t they want the people that they are always championing against the Israelis? If they care so much for the Palestinians and never stop talking about their plight, why won’t they take a single one of them into their territory?

The simple answer is that they know that the Palestinians are in trouble. Wherever they moved en masse, they caused social and political upheaval. Lebanon was an idyllic “Switzerland of the Middle East” until Yasir Arafat and his thousands of Palestinians showed up to destroy the delicate balance between Christians and Muslims. Fifteen years of civil war followed, and even today, one can read of firefights and deaths in Palestinian refugee camps in the country. Prior to that, Jordan was almost lost to Arafat and his terrorists during the period of Black September. Ariel Sharon sent tanks to prevent Syria from coming in to help the Palestinians topple King Hussein. Jordan is majority Palestinian Arabs and has made it clear that it wants no more refugees in its kingdom.

So, one sees that all of the support and concern for the Palestinians is premised on them staying there—away from their supposed supporters. In response, Israel has told the population to move around the strip based on where the IDF is going to attack. Hamas has told people to stay put so as to have more dead bodies in the hope that Israel will be forced to let up sooner. None of the neighboring countries want the Palestinians because they know that they will be there forever, as no Palestinian state is in the offing. Mahmud Abbas and his buddies will be in no hurry to bring back anybody who left Gaza willingly. Look at those still in the camps from 1948 in Lebanon and elsewhere, and you see that there is no effort to repatriate them.

Now, let’s look to the West. Western Europe and the US have taken in vast numbers of Muslim refugees and immigrants. A significant percentage of these newcomers not only do not merge into their new countries but hold their Western hosts and culture in the greatest contempt. As the women in Sweden or the Londoners who cannot go into certain “no-go” neighborhoods know, there are immigrants who have no interest in being a part of or contributing to the countries that graciously took them in. Ten thousand people on Saturday marched in London in support of Hamas. Ten thousand people think that murdering babies, raping Jewish women, dragging kids into Gaza, and shooting up partygoers is just fine and justified. They would never denounce anything Hamas did, justifying their actions as “resistance” or “defense.” They cannot admit the barbaric nature of Hamas’ attack because it would undermine their thesis that Israel is always bad and that Palestinians are always poor and unfortunate. Baby killers generally are not liked by normal folks, so when on-the-ground evidence is presented, they claim that it is a forgery.

Muslim groups have co-opted Western liberal and progressive groups to add virulently anti-Israel and antisemitic platforms to their generally unrelated programs. BLM, from its inception, stated that it was against Israel. What does Israel have to do with the rare case of a white officer shooting a black man, criminal or otherwise? But all of these organizations—like the 30 or so who signed a pro-Hamas letter at Harvard—are generally focused on other topics but have swallowed whole the anti-Zionist and antisemitic concepts from on-campus Muslim organizations or members. These Muslims have no interest in being proud Americans or Britons; they often disdain the very countries that have given them lives far more comfortable and fulfilling than they could have ever found in Pakistan, Jordan, or the Palestinian territories. I once interviewed the son of a sitting Palestinian prime minister for Harvard admission.  He left Ramallah and has lived for a decade in the US, where he is a journalist.

The West has foolishly brought in an uncontrollable number of immigrants, a portion of whom hate their host countries. These people do not want to integrate into Western life, hate Western values and culture, and, in many cases, plot how to destroy the very hosts who took them in when they fled their failed countries. These same people have warped virtually all liberal organizations to include antisemitic concepts that are entirely unrelated to their core interests of the environment, sexual orientation, or the like. The massive pro-Hamas demonstrations in London, Sydney, and elsewhere and the morally bankrupt letter from the Harvard organizations simply show that the left has sold its soul to antisemitism peddled by the Muslim supremacists in their midst. The day will come when the left and the Muslims will split, as their views are ultimately incompatible. At that time, the Muslims will show their erstwhile friends, the debauched and morally decadent liberals, no mercy.