The Democratic National Committee cannot tolerate Republican rhetoric against the Obama administration’s Syrian refugee plan. Rejecting these migrants is equal, in Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s eyes, to America’s turning away Jews in 1939, forcing them back into Nazi territory.
“We have seen this movie before. In May 1939, the SS St. Louis left Hamburg, Germany carrying more than 900 passengers, nearly all of them Jewish and seeking refuge in the United States. Our country turned them away, and many who were sent back to mainland Europe were killed in the Holocaust. Instead of learning from that mistake – Republican candidates and politicians were eager to repeat it.”
Schultz continued to chastise Republicans for their "out-of-touch" anti-refugee agenda, going so far as to say it “undermines” one’s faith as a Jew.
“Demonizing and scapegoating refugees not only betrays our values as a nation, it undermines our faith as Jews.”
A few notes here. First, the main argument against allowing thousands of Syrian refugees into the country is not borne out of racist stereotypes – it is borne out of concern for protecting our homeland. Sadly, Syria seems to be a hotbed of terrorism. How are we to know terrorists or terrorist sympathizers aren’t feigning to be refugees as a means to enter into the U.S. to commit more barbaric acts?
The Jewish people were not waging a global jihad. They had no ill feelings toward America. Can we say the same for the thousands of refugees about to spill across our border?