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Gazans speak out on Biden immigration offer, campus protests
Gazans in the central part of the enclave recently gave their views on the Biden administration’s immigration plan, and college protests. (CREDIT: Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL.)
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JERUSALEM — The White House is considering the resettlement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the United States, sparking warnings from experts about the potential for terrorism and failed assimilation.
“We are constantly evaluating policy proposals to further support Palestinians who are family members of American citizens and may want to come to the United States,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced in early May.
Hamas invaded Israel Oct. 7 and murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans. Video footage shows Gazans cheering Hamas terrorists as they returned with over 250 kidnapped people from southern Israel. Palestinian civilians, according to the footage, also desecrated the bodies of dead Israelis and Europeans.
Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip have been steeped in Hamas’s terrorist ideology since 2007, according to experts. The U.S.-designated terrorist organization Hamas has instilled a dangerous mix of antisemitic, anti-Christian, anti-American thinking into large swathes of the over 2 million Gazans.
WHY MIDEAST NEIGHBORS WON’T OFFER REFUGE TO PALESTINIANS STUCK IN GAZA WAR ZONE
Palestinians line up outside the UNRWA aid distribution center in the city of Deir al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip, waiting to receive supplies from humanitarian convoys coming through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border Dec 10, 2023. (Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL)
Pinhas Inbari, a veteran Arab affairs analyst and correspondent in Israel who spent over 14 years covering the West Bank and Gaza, told Fox New Digital, “I think that the core issue is whether all Gaza is Hamas or as Biden tries to convince us that there is a difference between Hamas and the Gazans, and we have to treat them differently.
“I cannot say all Gazans are Hamas, but you can say they are brainwashed by Hamas. Muslims are indoctrinated with Islam and jihad [in Gaza]. You can’t take them as they are now and plant them in the U.S. Biden has to see Europe to understand.”
Inbari pointed to the late April march of over 1,000 radical Islamists in the northern German city of Hamburg. The Islamists announced that “Caliphate is the solution.” A Caliphate is an Islamic state where Sharia law governs all walks of life. Inbari is fluent in Arabic.
It “will take years of education to teach them not be jihadi Muslims,” he said.
He compared Biden’s plan to “taking al-Qaeda to the U.S. They are educated to hate America and Christians. They think if they hate Jews they will not hate Christians. They are mistaken. Al Qaeda hates Christians before Jews.”
WHITE HOUSE WALKS DIPLOMATIC TIGHTROPE ON ISRAEL WITH CONTRADICTORY MESSAGING
Biden recommended a website that included defenses of Hamas in articles following the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel. (Getty Images)
Biden’s immigration plan and the pro-Hamas protests on college campuses were recently discussed by some Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s TPS-IL news agency published video footage of Gazans speaking about immigration and anti-Israel protests on U.S. campuses.
“Everything that’s happening here is according to their plan,” one elderly Palestinian man said in an apparent reference to Israel. “They attacked Gaza with all of their military might but achieved nothing. But now they’re working on a new plan. They claim their hearts are with the people of Gaza, that they want to bring them out and ease their burdens.
“And this is the core plan of America and the occupation — to force us to emigrate. I will not emigrate — even if the entire universe demands it.”
There is no evidence Israel or the United States wishes to push Palestinians to immigrate. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and the Palestinian terrorist movement seized power in 2007.
BIDEN’S ARMS EMBARGO ON ISRAEL ‘EMBOLDENS’ HAMAS MISSILE STRIKES AGAINST JEWISH STATE
Members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement, attend the funeral of comrade Mohammed Abed during his funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip Feb. 16, 2022. (Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
A younger man, however, in the TPS video clip states he wishes to relocate.
“Why stay here? No one will stay. Everything is ruined. Why stay?” he said.
A middle-aged man added, “I am personally 55 years old. I don’t care to emigrate. But for my kids, I’ll tell them to go.”
One Palestinian man vehemently opposes immigration.
“Who’s emigrating? God forbid,” he said. “Whoever emigrates has no [love of] country, no religion and no belief. “This is someone who has no loyalty to Gaza … who has no real ties to Gaza or to Palestine.”
CRITICS PAN BIDEN PLAN TO BRING GAZA REFUGEES INTO US: ‘TERRORISTS ENTERING OUR HOMELAND’
The pro-Hamas protests on American college campuses were addressed by a Palestinian woman, who said, “I think Hamas supports the protests in the USA. Thank you to the students in the USA who stand by the Palestinian people.”
A Palestinian man added, “Surely Hamas supports these college students and should support them for that.”
Palestinians, including women and children, living in makeshift tents at the foot of the wall separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt pack up their tents May 9, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza, and migrate to safe areas after the Israeli army took control of the Rafah border crossing on the Gazan side as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip continue uninterruptedly for 216 days. (Hani Alshaer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The United States has provided support for over 1,800 eligible individuals from Gaza who have departed or want to depart,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This includes U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and their families, many of whom have come to the United States. This also includes particularly vulnerable individuals such as children with serious health conditions, including cancer and physical disabilities, often a result of the war, who require acute or specialized care in the United States or in the region.”
The State Department spokesperson made clear all will be carefully checked.
“Any individuals from Gaza who have traveled or would travel to the United States are thoroughly vetted, as the safety and security of the American people is our top priority,” the spokesperson said. “We have been clear and consistent: The United States categorically rejects any actions leading to the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza.”
Syrian-born American journalist and Middle East expert Hayvi Bouzo reviewed the interviews on TPS-IL.
“The Biden administration’s immigration policies and open border approach have long been problematic due to inadequate vetting for legal immigrants,” Bouzo told Fox News Digital. “In Gaza, for nearly two decades, Hamas has controlled the content of textbooks, media and mosque khutbahs (sermons).
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah May 9, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
“Most people working in Gaza have had to affiliate with Hamas or other radical groups to find employment, complicating efforts to identify those deeply involved with Hamas’ terrorist activities. This situation underscores the critical need for thorough vetting to identify potential national security threats, a measure that has yet to be effectively implemented by the Biden administration.
IDF CLAIMS PHOTOS SHOW HAMAS COMBATANTS INSIDE UN COMPOUND IN RAFAH
“The administration’s efforts to evacuate civilians from conflict zones in Gaza, which is traditionally, internationally praised as a humanitarian effort to save live — are perceived by many Palestinians and Arabs as a ‘conspiracy’ to force Palestinians from their homes. I believe the Biden administration’s policies have not earned gratitude from any party involved are not particularly perceived as helpful to the Palestinians in Gaza, and come with a national security risk.
“On the other hand, Egypt should continue to welcome Gazan refugees, while the U.S. should assist by providing aid, shelter, food and medicine until it’s safe for them to return to their homes.”
Following the Israeli army’s ground incursions into certain neighborhoods east of Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians in the area continue to migrate from the eastern neighborhoods of the city toward the west of Khan Yunis and set up makeshift tents in the al-Mawasi district of Khan Yunis on May 9, 2024. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In December, a shocking survey revealed 57% of Palestinian respondents in Gaza and 82% of Palestinians in the West Bank (known as Judea and Samaria in Israel) agree with Hamas’ terrorism attack Oct. 7.
Inbari, an expert on Palestinian society, provided some optimism. He said if the United Arab Emirates, which has diplomatic relations with Israel, takes responsibility for the rebuilding of Gaza, the Emirates “will bring a positive Islam” to the enclave.
He said there is a possibility “Gazans will learn they were brainwashed by Hamas. I think they will sober up. It happened in Syria with the people who were brainwashed by Assad.
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“Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Party has spent over 50 years socializing Syrians to hate Israel, Jews and the United States. After Assad started to wipe out Sunni Syrians protesting against his regime in 2011, many Syrians “understood that Assad played with them,” Inbari said.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at [email protected]