Republicans rush to reject Gaza refugees
GOP rhetoric could be the difference between life and death for Palestinians fleeing violence
Pushed south by pulverizing aerial bombardments, and faced with a looming ground invasion by Israeli forces, Palestinians in Gaza stand at the brink of a major refugee crisis. Hundreds of thousands of the strip's more than two million residents have already been displaced in the early days of Israel's military assault, according to United Nations estimates. Israel's standing order for more than a million Gazans to relocate within the narrow confines of the 150-square mile enclave is likely to "push people in Gaza into abyss” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, predicted.
While the sheer scale and immediacy of the unfolding humanitarian disaster have prompted some countries to call for restraint and diplomacy to deescalate the violence already ravaging the region, many of those same world leaders have waved off calls to open their borders to the flood of Gazans desperate to escape the violent confines of the strip. From Egypt's hesitance to fully open its Rafah crossing with Gaza, to Jordanian King Abdullah's vow this week that there would be "no refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt," the question of which nations should and will accept Palestinian asylum-seekers has become an increasingly urgent global concern.
Although the United States has not, to date, put forward any specific plan for accepting Gazan refugees, a number of conservative lawmakers — many of them 2024 presidential candidates — have jumpstarted any forthcoming debate on the issue by preemptively declaring their opposition to allowing any displaced Palestinians onto American soil.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Not all of them are Hamas, but...'
Speaking at a campaign rally this weekend, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) staked out a hardline position on the prospect of the United States accepting Palestinian refugees, telling the crowd that "the Arab states should be taking them," rather than America. Acknowledging that he didn't know what, if anything, the Biden administration planned to do, DeSantis claimed without evidence that "not all of them are Hamas but they are all anti-Semitic" to justify his stance.
During a campaign event in Iowa, @RonDeSantis said the United States should not accept refugees from Gaza."If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic. None of them believe in Israel's right to exist," Gov. DeSantis said. pic.twitter.com/UmONimgSDLOctober 14, 2023
Pressed later by CBS's Margaret Brennan during an interview for Face The Nation, DeSantis insisted that "some of the far left" had proposed allowing Gazan refugees into the U.S., prompting him to "just put my stake in the ground" Moreover, DeSantis said, "everyone running for president on the Republican side should follow suit." In that spirit, DeSantis and his allies were quick to leap on former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's comments to CNN's Jake Tapper that the U.S. is "sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists."
Haley was simply "trying to be politically correct" and "please the media and people on the left," DeSantis claimed on Monday to NBC's Dasha Burns, just before both Fox News host Laura Ingraham and the Never Back Down PAC that supports DeSantis credited the governor for Haley's subsequent clarification that she "opposes the U.S. taking in Gazans."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, former President Donald Trump also proposed closing the country to Gazan refugees, citing his administration's banning incoming travelers "from all of the most dangerous places all over the world" during his first term.
"In my second term, we’re going to expand each and every one of those bans," Trump told rally attendees in Iowa this weekend, naming "Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security."
'The last thing we ought to do is trust their identity documents'
While much of the most heated rhetoric opposing Palestinian refugees has come from high-profile presidential contenders like Trump and Haley, similar sentiments have saturated deeper into the GOP at large. Last week, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.) announced plans "to introduce The Guaranteeing Aggressors Zero Admissions – or GAZA Act" that would "stop President Biden from issuing visas or 'paroling' holders of Palestinian Authority passports into the United States." Deeming them "trustworthy partners," Tiffany concluded, "the last thing we ought to do is trust their identity documents."
Echoing Trump's call to "revoke the student visas" of foreign nationals deemed "anti-American and antisemitic," Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R) on Monday urged Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to "immediately deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa—that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
'Will growth slow, or is the economy about to fall off a cliff?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Senate passes FAA bill with new consumer protections
Speed Read The legislation will require airlines to refund customers for flight delays
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump pledged pro-oil policy to CEOs, asked for $1B
Speed Read The former president promised to reverse Biden's environmental regulations if elected
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Will growth slow, or is the economy about to fall off a cliff?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Trump pledged pro-oil policy to CEOs, asked for $1B
Speed Read The former president promised to reverse Biden's environmental regulations if elected
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Netanyahu vows to 'stand alone' if Biden halts arms
Speed Read The Israeli prime minister responds to President Biden's threat over withholding US weapons
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'Why would anyone look to the United States as a model?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Kristi Noem and the politics of puppy killing
Talking Point Revelations in Republican's upcoming memoir may have doomed her political career
By The Week UK Published
-
RFK Jr. said brain 'worm' caused memory fog
Speed Read The presidential candidate gave an unexpected reason for his past cognitive issues
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Will young people refuse to vote in the 2024 presidential election?
Today's Big Question The kids are not alright
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
'Is the death penalty racist? Of course it is.'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published