All refugees are not created equal

A former Russian Jewish refugee who lives in San Diego, received an invitation from his synagogue to attend an event geared toward helping the Muslim refugees.

He replied:

Dear Jewish Federation, Anti Defamation League,

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this evening’s “Immigrants and Refugees, a Jewish call to action” community event that you are organizing. In lieu of attending. However, I would like to share some thoughts I have on the subject. I hope that you take those thoughts into consideration both in tonight’s program as well as any further community outreach programs.

As a former refugee myself I believe I have some valuable insights to add to this discussion. I presume that the current call to action and tonight’s discussion were spurred by the recent temporary ban placed by President Trump on entrants from the following 7 countries: Yemen, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Lybia. There have been some very emotional claims made about this ban both in the media as well as Jewish community so I think it would be useful to analyze the facts.

The seven aforementioned countries all share one common thread, they are hotbeds of Islamic Extremism whose main aim is to wipe out western civilization as we know it and more specifically to wipe out the Jews. Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Lybia and Sudan are failed states where the concept of verifiable, trustworthy official documents no longer exists. Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism which denies Holocaust and openly calls for the destruction of state of Israel and eventually U.S. Essentially all of the ranking security officials in Homeland Security, FBI and CIA have stated that it is impossible to properly vet citizens of those countries and all of them pose a potential threat to the safety and security of our homeland and its citizens. While it is undeniable that the citizens of those countries, the ones that are still alive, have suffered unimaginable horrors and persecution at the hands of their countrymen and many would like to leave, that does not make United States of America responsible for their fate.

It has been claimed by many in the media that the refugees from those
countries do not pose any risk whatsoever and have never committed any
atrocities in the U.S. The facts simply do not bear this out. Leaving
aside the numerous atrocities perpetrated by Muslim immigrants and
refugees in Europe (which would take pages to document), here is a
brief list of the most recent atrocities committed in U.S by Muslim
refugees and immigrants:
· Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan went on a jihadi stabbing
rampage at Ohio State.
· In 2016, an Iraqi refugee Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan was accused of
planning to bomb a local mall in Texas.
· In September 2016, a Somali refugee named Dahir Adan went on a
stabbing spree at a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
· Somali refugee, Mohamed Osman Mohamed, was arrested for planning to
blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon back in 2010.
· In 2012, Abdullatif Ali Aldosary, an Iraqi refugee, bombed a Social
Security Office in Arizona.
· Two Iraqi refugees were convicted for having aided Al-Qaeda in Iraq
to kill American servicemen. These so called “refugees,” lied on their
applications, and as proof that the screening process is ineffective,
were allowed entry without issue.
· Both Boston Bombers were refugees. The Tsarnaev brothers were
brought here courtesy of your paycheck, killing and maiming innocents
as a result.
I should add that Omar Mateen, perpetrator of one of the biggest mass
murders in U.S history, was a son of an Afghani refugee.
The bottom line is that there is a clear, direct and bloody evidence
that the immigrants and refugees from the seven countries on President
Trumps’ list pose a direct and clear danger to us.

In your appeal for this event, you seem to be drawing on Holocaust,
making direct connection and comparisons to the Jewish refugees of
1930’ and 40s with the current wave of Muslim refugees. That is deeply
troubling, inaccurate and plain offensive. First this kind of
comparison cheapens and degrades the memory of the Holocaust. The
Jewish refugees of 30’s and 40’s were rejected by this country
squarely on the basis of antisemitism that was deeply prevalent in
Rosevelt administration as well as U.S overall. Israel did not exist,
the Jewish community in U.S was fairly powerless and the entire world
shut its doors motivated by antisemitism. The muslim refugees of today
are being temporarily restricted as they pose a concrete, stated,
proven and real danger to the citizens of this country. Furthermore,
there are multiple very wealthy Arab countries that can easily take
them but have refused to take even a single soul and have not helped
them at all. Saudi Arabia has stated that it will build 200 mosques in
Germany but will not spend a dollar to take in a single refugee. The
Arabs won’t take them, why should we?

Second, as a former refugee myself, I am deeply offended by your
implication that all refugees are created equal. That is also simply
not true. The European refugees like ourselves, came here to
integrate, to contribute and to help build this country, founded on
Judeo-Christian values. The Muslim refugees from the seven countries
as well as Arab world in general, are coming as part of the stealth
Jihad whose goal is a total destruction of Western civilization as we
know it. Is that what we as Jews want to enable?

Finally, you may argue that not all refugees subscribe to the
nihilistic, apocalyptic vision of Islam and its drive to dominate the
world. Perhaps you are right. But as the father of three young
children and a husband of a beautiful wife, do I really want to play
Russian Roulette with the lives of my loved ones? Do I really want to
create another Sweden here where women are attacked and molested
regularly and are now told to avoid public pools and to change the way
they dress? Or perhaps you would like me to take a chance on creating
another Austria here where a 10 year boy gets raped by one of the
recently admitted refugees?

Finally, let’s talk about the Jewish aspect of all of this. In your
appeal, you make a point that “Jewish history and tradition puts us at
the forefront of welcoming the stranger”. While that is certainly
true, our Jewish tradition does not call for actions that endanger
one’s life and in fact the sanctity of one’s life takes precedence
over all other actions. As you appear to be in search of a worthy
cause that can unite and bring out the best in our community may I
suggest the following possible causes and offer to be the first to
volunteer to contribute to and support:

– Let’s help the poor Jews of Eastern Ukraine, caught in the
crossfire, struggling to survive.
– Let’s help the West European Jews, cowering in their homes, under
24/7 protection from the Muslim hordes all around them. Let’s help
those who want to immigrate to Israel
– Let’s help the Argentine Jews, victims of brutal Hezbollah attacks
as well as persistent, institutionalized antisemitism
– Let’s double our efforts to help all of Israeli war widows, whose
husbands perished protecting Am Israel
– Let’s raise funds for the few gentiles still alive designated as
“righteous among nations”, many of whom are barely making ends meet in
Eastern Europe
– Let’s pledge to double out support to Friends of IDF organization
that takes care of lonely warriors in IDF who are risking their lives
to protect us
– Let’s create a fund for the family of Halal Yaffa Ariel, a 12 year
old girl recently murdered by Muslim terrorist in Israel
– Let’s start a fund for the family of Ilan Halevi, a French Jew,
brutally tortured for weeks and then murdered in the most gruesome way
by his Muslim countrymen, many of them former refugees and immigrants.
– Let’s create a fund for the remaining family members of the family
in Itamar most of whom were murdered by Muslim terrorists in Israel
– Let’s start a campaign to protest the fact that at least 16 Arab
countries don’t allow anyone with Israeli stamps in their passport
into their country.
– Let’s publicize the fact that Iran, on their visa
application, forbids entry to anyone who visited “Palestinian Occupied
Territories” in the last year.

I can go on and on but I think you get the point.

There is no shortage of good causes to rally the community around. Any
of them are in line with “Tikun Olam” which I am guessing you are
after and very much a help to an important portion of our worldwide
community. Those are the kinds of causes many of us can get excited
about and will gladly contribute to. Rallying to the cause of Jew
hating, America bashing, Islamofascists who pose a direct danger to
our families is not one of them. The sooner Jewish Federation, Anti
Defamation League and other Jewish organizations behind tonight’s
event realize this the better.

Until then, not a dollar, not a minute of time, not a single
contribution will be flowing from our pockets to yours and we will
indeed be a house divided.

Respectfully Yours,

Alex Liff