Dan Schueftan

Dan Schueftan is the head of the International Graduate Program in National Security Studies at the University of Haifa.

Crying racism while denying reality

The Arabs and their apologists deny and ignore their collective behavior and the very different circumstances that created their plight and that of Ukrainian refugees.

 

The serial tendency of the region's Arabs to complain and deny their role in their misery has found a new channel of late that touches on the war in Ukraine. The world is shocked by the suffering of the Ukrainian population, opening its arms to millions of its refugees, dealing blows to the economy of the Russian invader, and ostracizing its leaders. When it comes to the Arabs, however, the world denies their suffering, closes its gates to refugees, and avoids punishing the occupiers. The way the Arabs see it, this is a case of racist differentiation, as the Western reporters admit they are shocked by the suffering of "people like us."

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The disparity in the West and Israel's treatment of these is indeed conspicuous. It appears that the similarity in lifestyle and appearance of the victims of the violence and the refugees to that of their hosts makes empathy more forthcoming and explains this disparity to some extent. But the main difference the Arabs and their apologists deny and ignore with manipulative hypocrisy is the difference in the circumstances that created their plight and in their collective behavior.

The Ukrainians were conquered and forced into refugeedom because their predatory neighbor conspires to enslave their homeland. The Arabs and their ilk were conquered in recent generations usually as a result of their violence and were forced into refugeedom by barbaric civil wars waged to oppress their neighbors. In these wars, the weaker side, which would have oppressed others had they had the upper hand, were banished from their land. In both cases, there are many those who behave differently – Ukrainian criminals, as well as innocent Arab victims, do exist – but the West's treatment of the entire phenomenon cannot help but be dictated by the collective picture.

The determining factor in this treatment is future expectations based on past experience. The Ukrainian refugees are not expected to threaten the quality of life of the countries that have taken them in, to behave with unusual violence, to identify with their enemies, to maintain a lifestyle that is in opposition to important issues to the core values of society. The vast majority is expected to connect to the core values of the Western societies, maintain their uniqueness without challenging society, and gradually limit their reliance on welfare mechanisms. Some of them will integrate into their host countries and contribute to their welfare, while others will return to their country when able.

By contrast, a large portion of Arab immigrants to Europe brought with them the values and non-pluralistic lifestyles that wrought destruction on their homelands: violent behavior, a tendency toward mass, violent riots, the oppression of women, and the legitimization of terrorism.

Of course, this is not true of all Arab or Muslim immigrants, but such conduct is more common among them than other immigrant groups, and the severity of it is on the rise among those generations educated in Europe. So, for example, the police fears entering Muslim neighborhoods in Paris. In riots that spread throughout France in 2005, thousands of cars were set on fire. The publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed brought thousands out into the streets for violent riots, resulted in the murder of journalists, and forced many others into hiding in fear for their lives. There are common phenomena of radical sermons given in mosques, displays of antisemitism, attacks on Jews, and the oppression of women and the LGBTQ+ community.

While the absolute number enlisting in terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State is low, it sticks out in comparison to every other nationalist, religious, or ethnic group. In Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city, for example, this population rate reached levels that made it difficult for others, and Jews in particular, to live calm and secure lives.

The Arab writers ignoring these circumstances present the differentiation in treatment of various refugees as racism in a move symptomatic of one of the most difficult diseases afflicting Arab culture and politics: the refusal to take responsibility for their conduct and its consequences. The Palestinian public, which turns terrorists into exemplary figures and generously funds them and their families, is surprised when victims of that terror treat their sons as suspicious objects.

Immigrants among whom the oppression of women and the LGBTQ+ community, violence, mass riots, and the legitimization of terror are common are dumbfounded when they are not welcomed into pluralist societies. Immigrants from India are welcome in Britain. They have the highest employment rate and the lowest poverty rate of all minorities there despite not having blonde hair and blue eyes.

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