***The Iowa Standard is an independent media voice. We rely on the financial support of our readers to exist. Please consider a one-time sign of support or becoming a monthly supporter at $5, $10/month - whatever you think we're worth! If you’ve ever used the phrase “Fake News” — now YOU can actually DO something about it! You can also support us on PayPal at [email protected] or Venmo at Iowa-Standard-2018 or through the mail at: PO Box 112 Sioux Center, IA 51250

By Ira Mehlman
FAIR

Since October 7, the Iranian regime has been issuing overt threats against the United States and our interests around the world. Those threats are being taken seriously by national security experts, including many who work for President Biden. They know that any attack on U.S. soil would likely be carried out by one of Iran’s many proxy terror groups around the world.

The United States has certainly been giving Iran ample opportunities to make good on their threats by leaving our borders wide open. More than 3 million of the 10 million who have been encountered entering the U.S. illegally over the past three years have been released into the country, many with only cursory background checks. Another 1.8 million people are known to have entered the country illegally but were never encountered and we have no way of knowing who they are, where they are, or why they’re here.

All of this adds up to a very dangerous situation with potentially catastrophic consequences – to which the Biden administration’s response is, ‘Let’s see what we can do to make it worse.’ Last Tuesday, reports began circulating that the Biden administration is considering allowing an unspecified number of Gaza residents to settle in the United States.

On Friday, State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, confirmed those reports during a press briefing. Responding to a reporter’s question, Miller stated (somewhat ambiguously) that since the attacks of October 7, the department has “helped more than 1,800 American citizens and their families” [emphasis added] come to the U.S. It was not clear from Miller’s statement whether 1,800 is a cumulative total of citizens and noncitizens, or whether the noncitizens are in addition to the citizens who arrived back in the U.S.

Miller added that, looking ahead, “Palestinians may be eligible for a variety of existing pathways to enter the United States, such as immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. We are constantly evaluating policy proposals to support Palestinians who are family members of U.S. citizens.” He did not elaborate on what those pathways might be, but the Biden administration has a history of inventing pathways, even when none exist under the law. The administration has grossly abused its very limited authority to parole inadmissible foreign nationals into the United States, including a variety of special parole programs to accommodate specific nationality groups.

What Miller did not address was the key point of the reporter’s question, which was, “How will the administration ensure that there is no Hamas infiltration?” That is a question that is foremost on the minds of the American public and at least 35 members of the U.S. Senate who signed a letter to President Biden on May 1.

The letter sent by the senators notes that the administration’s resettlement “proposals ignore that Hamas remains in control of large parts of the Gaza Strip…U.S. and allied officials have very little access to Gazans living in the area, making it nearly impossible to conduct thorough vetting before admitting them into our country. We must ensure Gazans with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States—no easy feat, given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006. Without thorough vetting, your administration may inadvertently accept terrorists posing as refugees into the interior.” Adding to the concerns raised by the senators is that “Iran has funded, armed, trained, and provided intelligence to Hamas for decades.”

The legitimate threat to U.S. security that might be posed by resettling large numbers of Gazans to this country is not the only argument against the administration’s half-baked plans. Large-scale relocation of people half way around the world should be the last option, not the first. Whenever feasible, the objective should be to protect people with the aim of having them return home when conditions allow.

Gaza shares a border with Egypt – the country that ruled Gaza between 1949 and 1967. Gazans could easily be evacuated temporarily to the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula which lies just on the other side of the security fence and two-mile wide buffer zone that the Egyptians have constructed along their border with Gaza (due to Egypt’s own legitimate security concerns). Sheltering Gaza civilians under the auspices of the U.N. and other international agencies until there is a cessation of fighting would allow Gazans to return home and rebuild once the war is over, something that is unlikely to happen if large numbers of people are settled in the United States or other Western nations.

It is notable that it is not just Egypt that is refusing to allow residents of the war-torn territory to take refuge on their soil. Not a single Arab nation in the region has stepped up to offer temporary or permanent refuge to Gazans, including oil-rich Saudi Arabia and other Gulf emirates. Nor has Hamas’ prime benefactor, Iran, which has provided billions of dollars of munitions to Hamas, been willing to shelter a single Gazan (even though they are now offering refuge and scholarships to American college students who have been suspended or expelled from U.S. universities during weeks of sometimes violent protests on campuses across the country).

The first goal of U.S. policy must be to protect the security of the American people, and also bring home the five remaining U.S. citizens who are being held hostage by Hamas and the bodies of three others who are now confirmed to have been killed by the terror group. As Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), one of the signatories to the letter, observed, “I have zero confidence in Biden’s ability to vet refugees. How will he make sure they aren’t Hamas?”

The second goal must be to facilitate the return of Gazans to their homeland once the military capabilities of Hamas are eradicated and a semblance of peace returns to the area. This is an objective that can best be achieved by temporary relocation of civilians in the region.

Neither of these interests would be advanced by any Biden administration efforts to bend, stretch, or outright ignore U.S. laws in order to relocate large numbers of Gazans to the United States.

Author: FAIR

1 COMMENT

  1. This is a SICK JOKE on the American people by Biden and should be stopped immediately if we had people in Washington with any balls to fight, If we had any with balls! So many of these people are there to just go along to get along that it makes me sick.
    Everything that the current ( RESIDENT) is doing is for the US’s DESTRUCTION!
    For all you people who may still maybe watching Fox News, MSNBC and CNN SWITCH TO: RealAmericsvoice.news on ROKU TV channel 194 on TV or its on phones FOR THE TRUTH NOT MSN!!!!!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here