Here’s How Israel Handles Muslim Immigration

Donald Trump said yesterday that in an effort to keep a lid on “death” until our nation’s representatives can “figure things out,” all Muslim non-citizens should be barred from entering the U.S.

Here is what he wrote in a statement:

Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred [of Americans by members of the Muslim world] is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it faces, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.

Trump’s message was ill-received with the Jewish-Israeli community. Even Israel, a U.S. ally and a Jewish State that has Muslims as its second-largest religious population and is a magnet for Islamic terrorism, does not control immigration by religion into its borders.

In a statement sent to The Daily Wire, Deputy Consul General of Israel to the Southeast, Ron Brummer said that with regard to legal immigration, Israel upholds a “Law of Return” policy (passed on July 5, 1950) which gives Jews the “right of return” to live in Israel and the right to become citizens of Israel.

“Israel has been dealing with illegal immigration from mainly African countries in the past few years. Illegal immigration is indeed an issue in Israel,” Brummer said. “However, Israel does not characterize illegal immigration across religious or nationalistic lines, such as with Muslim people.”

Israel’s Citizenship and Entry Law, which, according to Israeli politician Ze’ev Bonim, is required not only to prevent terrorism in Israel but to “”to maintain the state’s democratic nature, but also its Jewish nature,” restricts citizenship and residence in Israel to Palestinian spouses of Israeli citizens, from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The law applies to men over the age of 35 and women over the age of 25.

Of course after the law was established, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticized Israel for making a law it said “violated an international human rights treaty,” since it disproportionately affects Arabs in Israel as they are “more likely” to have spouses from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The committee of course failed to acknowledge the reality of the security threat posed by that region.

Some Israeli publications have criticized Trump’s immigration policy, including Israel’s largest left-wing newspaper, Haaretz. This morning, Haaretz columnist Chemi Shalev said that even the right-of-center Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, who has stirred anti-Arab fears during his election season, has not gone so far as to ban a religion from entering Israel.

The left-wing columnist, who has in the past criticized the Israeli prime minister as “racist” and even “cruel,” this time commended Netanyahu somewhat on his immigration stance which now seem moderate in comparison to Trump’s:

Netanyahu ultimately stops at red lights and pulls back from the brink while Trump, for all we know, may have no brakes at all.

Israel, a tiny Jewish state that experiences Islamic terrorism frequently, relies on a dominant Jewish demographic in order to maintain its existence. Population growth and immigration of non-Jews to the state poses a threat to its Jewish-dominant demographics, ultimately leading to a national security risk, the Koenig Memorandum outlines. So if any country would be justified in its regulation of Muslims or people of any other religion entering its borders, it would be Israel.

But it would be interesting to note whether Trump’s rhetoric could benefit conservatives in the U.S. and in Israel by putting immigration positions into perspective, or whether the Israel-bashing of the left and the mainstream media will continue regardless.