Protesters remember the refugees, forget the Jews

Inconvenient truths need not throw a wrench into the rolling worldwide circus passing for a social protest movement. See you at the demonstration!

Mass protests against the newly minted presidency of Donald Trump have become a cultural phenomenon. Thousands of earnest snowflakes, sanctimonious college professors and outraged celebrities have joined forces in a desperate attempt to ‘let them in.’

From JFK, to Dulles, to LAX, airports across the United States that were once merely a series of runways and maintenance facilities have magically morphed into loud, proud, swirling post-modern carnivals for the airing of grievances – real, imagined, or induced by the copious ingestion of Xanax, Vicodin or Klonopin.

Despite the freaky holiday atmosphere of these guerilla-style open air festivals, frequent comparisons of today’s Muslim refugees to yesterday’s Jewish refugees require a serious, sober response.

In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of Jews tried to escape the clutches of a European continent being rapidly overrun by the Nazi war machine. While beginning their new lives in Jewish ghettos on the Lower East Side of New York, the Fairfax District of Los Angeles and other places, such insular accommodations were nothing more than pit stops on the long, hard road towards assimilation into the wider American society.

Of course, there were Jewish gangsters, hustlers, prostitutes and thieves. But even these rogues were acting out of a misguided desire to fulfill the American dream – in the quickest manner possible, even if it meant lying, cheating or killing.

Having been given a second chance at life, the vast majority of newly arrived Jews worked liked mad to reach Nirvana on earth: the American middle class. The sons and daughters of these refugees were raised on the thoroughly American values of hard work, thrift and love of country. In virtually every facet of life, American Jews have blended into the American mainstream, a bright patch of color on a brilliant national mosaic.

Meanwhile, a disturbingly large amount of the citizens residing in the seven countries listed on Trump’s refugee moratorium hold alarmingly retrograde views on Western civilization. Specifically, 10-15 percent of Muslims believe in applying Shari’a, Islamic law, in its totality. These are Islamists who want to implement a medieval code that calls for restricting women, subjugating non-Muslims, violent jihad and establishing a caliphate to rule the world.

In other words, ISIS and other terrorist groups did not come into being ex nihilo. The rulers of these seven countries, either due to benign neglect or actual complicity, have enabled the rise of Jihadism.

But what about the poor, benighted moderate Muslim citizens of these failed states and the fervent belief of many progressive thinkers that those seeking to start a new life in the United States also seek to assimilate into American society and embrace American values?

The numbers paint a different portrait of the mythological moderate Muslim; 38.6 percent of Western Muslims believe the 9/11 attacks were justified, according to a 2011 Gallup Poll. In addition, polling company CSP Poll (2015) found that 38 percent of Muslim-Americans say Islamic State (ISIS) beliefs represent Islam or are correct. This poll also found that 51 percent of Muslim-Americans believe that they should be allowed to be judged by Shari’a courts.

Lest I be accused of being a buzzkill, I humbly suggest that these inconvenient truths needn’t throw a wrench into the rolling worldwide circus passing for a social protest movement. The thing about selective moral outrage is that it’s…selective. As such, why not grow the ‘let them in’ tent to include marches against six of the seven banned countries that do not accept Israeli passports because the holders are Jewish?

Hat tip, Somalia.

By: Gidon Ben-Zvi, Freelance Journalist

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