I am an immigrant. As a progressive my first inclination is to say of course, open all borders, keep America a free country, and by all means, may all the oppressed peoples of the world enter our gates. After all, the Statue of Liberty was the closest thing to a goddess for my mother. My Iraqi mother and Egyptian father applied for immigration to the country of their dreams. As Egyptian nationals without any family in the United States, we waited twenty years before we were considered. While I don’t wish such a long wait on anyone, there are conditions to be met. For my mother, father, b Twenty years of waiting, twenty years of preparing. We were strangers in a land uncomfortable with being
Islamic fundamentalists are preaching “Itbach el Yahud,” slaughter the Jews, cries my parents lived with in their native Egypt and Iraq. Today Jews in France are fair game for radical Islamists. Vows to destroy Israel crowd the Internet. The world is not paying enough attention. Today I live in a country where our leaders cannot link “political Islam” with “terrorism” or “Islamic” with “terrorist.” Abbas and Fatah are seen as “moderate,” unbelievable deals are made with Iran and its vile ayatollahs we keep trying to turn into our new best friends. Murderous gangs like Hezbollah and Hamas are portrayed as freedom fighters, and yitbach el Yahud goes unnoticed? The destruction of 2,500 years of
