Update July 18: Phyllis Chesler changed her post, after I posted the comments following this paragraph in her comments and we had a short email discussion. I recommend to our readers her Pajamas Media blog, where I read the post in question; she deals with many of the same issues we write about here, with an emphasis on women’s issues, especially Muslim women.
Original post —
In the piece I cited in my last post, Phyllis Chesler unwittingly repeats a false story that we’ve repeatedly tried to correct, but we don’t have a wide enough readership to kill it outright.
It’s based on a Presidential Determination from January, in which President Obama allocated “$20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs” for Palestinians in Gaza.
The apparently obvious — but wrong — conclusion is that our government is bringing Palestinians from Gaza into the U.S. That is NOT what the order is about. It was given after Israel went to war in Gaza to stop the constant rocket attacks. Its purpose was to provide funds for Gazan Palestinians within their own country who were displaced from their homes or otherwise in special need from the war. The language is boilerplate, but “migration” is not the same as “immigration” in any case.
We would be the last people in the world to cover up for Obama, or to minimize the damage he is doing to our country. In this case, he is not doing what he is accused of. And why would he? From his point of view the residents of Gaza are more useful where they are, where they can rain down more rockets on Israel and create more anti-Israel lies for CNN. I wish people would spend their energy fighting the many real threats we face, not making up phantom ones. Here are the posts we’ve done on the issue with more details:
January 30, by Ann: Obama sends more emergency funds to Gaza
February 11, by Judy: Hamas members are NOT flooding into the U.S. from Gaza
February 21, by Judy: Hamas members flooding into U.S.? Maybe even terrorist prisoners! (Or not.)
February 23, by Ann: Palestinians as refugees to the U.S.?
March 11, by Judy: Senator Kyl bases amendment on misinterpretation about Palestinian refugees
And by the way, that $20 million mentioned in the Presidential Directive was only a quick little injection of money into Gaza. Obama followed it up with almost a billion additional dollars shortly afterwards. It all went into Gaza, to Hamas, or maybe into Swiss bank accounts; who knows? But it did not bring any Gazans here.