Piers Akerman
The Daily Telegraph
OPPOSITION foreign affairs spokesperson Tanya Plibersek could not utter the word “Christian” yesterday when discussing the range of characteristics that might make a victim out of a person stuck in the Middle East conflict.
Instead, she said we shouldn’t choose people according to their religion when selecting the 12,000 extra refugees the Abbott government has generously agreed to accept from the UNHCR and resettle here.
She’s been supported by Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, Australia’s grand mufti, who erroneously believes that choosing refugees based on religion or ethnicity was the very kind of sectarian thinking “that got Iraq and Syria into the problems they’re facing now”.
They should consult the Koran and review the phrases favoured by Islamists and extremists if they want to find creepy justifications for the crisis.
Daesh, or IS, the most barbaric force unleashed since the defeat of Nazism and Communism, has singled out Christians and Christian women, particularly, among other minorities for the most inhumane treatment, including rape, slavery and of course, torture, crucifixion and murder.
Should we not be attempting to provide refuge for these persecuted groups, some of whom belong to sects that claim to pre-date Christianity?
Plibersek and some others in the Labor Party are attempting to hide behind the absurd politically correct rationalisation that extending help to those who have suffered the most cruelly would place Australia in breach of some form of anti-discrimination protocol.
In this, and in some other responses to last Friday’s tragic picture of a dead boy, the compassionistas have revealed their true faces.
Even as Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was in Europe seeking the views of the UNHCR on how best to assist in this global disaster, Anglican priest Father Rod Bower was telling a dial-a-mob in Hyde Park that: “This human carnage has not moved the stone cold heart of the Abbott government to take in one extra refugee,” and that some “mantra of national security” was being invoked.
Message to Fr Bower: In future, hold your comments until the adults have given consideration to what action is necessary, and further, if failed states like Syria and Afghanistan actually had genuine national security regimes there would not be a refugee crisis.
Another to add a shrill voice to the debate was Joumana Harris, the president of the United Muslim Women Association.
“What we witnessed and what we felt over the last few days was enough to move mountains, and yet we stand here almost begging those we entrust to speak in our name to open their hearts while they discuss when is the best time to drop the first bomb,” she told the same crowd, overlooking the evidence of unspeakable crimes committed by Daesh over the past few years.
Harris would have had more credibility if she was noted for her campaigns against female genital mutilation or Daesh, or the Taliban, but she hasn’t made the headlines with her views on those issues.
As the bleeding hearts were calling for an open-door border policy, the ABC aired an interview with a Syrian refugee, Katia Alsommoh, who pleaded for Christians and other religious minorities to be given priority, saying she had seen photos of refugees in Germany and Sweden who had been members of IS and Jabhat al-Nusra.
While being generous, we must also carefully screen those who we accept. Sweden is now the rape capital of Europe, with first- and second-generation refugees being blamed for much of the increase.
Sweden has been taking in a larger share of asylum seekers than any other EU state. Its population is about 9.6 million, and asylum was granted to more than 33,000 refugees last year.
In 2014, 6700 rapes were reported to the Swedish police, an 11 per cent increase from the previous year.
In response to a crime wave, Norway last year deported 7259 people and the crime rate dropped 30 per cent. The government’s goal for 2015 is to forcibly return 7800 people.
On Monday, Denmark began advertising in Lebanese newspapers to discourage migrants travelling to the country. One in four people living in Lebanon fled the war in Syria.
Denmark’s advertisement noted that welfare has been cut by 50 per cent, temporary residence permit holders cannot bring their families to Denmark in the first year, permanent residence is granted only after a minimum five years, strict language requirements apply to obtain a permanent residence and those who are refused refugee status will be speedily expelled.
Australia must not compound the problem that already exists in areas of Sydney and Melbourne where groups of Islamic migrants from Lebanon, Afghanistan and Somalia fail to respect our laws and culture. We must welcome those most at risk.