From Soul Surfers to Terrorists

I read in the Washington Times yesterday that there are a group of Israeli surfers living in an abandoned hotel on the Gaza strip, planning to stay there until evicted by the Israeli army as part of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. The hotel was abandoned in 2000 after some type of uprising. Later that morning, Fox News is showing Palestinians celebrating getting Gaza back, with the celebration being led by members of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization. If those 2 little snippets juxtaposed in your mind don't spell out the differences between Israel and its Arab neighbors, I don't know what will.

A common refrain, most recently heard from the nut job mother of the slain Army guy outside of Crawford, is that the Jews need to get out of Palestine; that little anti-semitic canard is also a very popular refrain, from what I understand, in much of Europe, where, 60 years ago, as WWII was winding down, the refrain was get the Jews out of Europe and back to Palestine. Of course they can always come here, but all of the investment banking jobs are filled, and they, unlike the millions of illegal aliens walking the streets, are not "willing to do the jobs Americans aren't willing to do."

That is the refrain heard by those in favor of immigration of all stripes - legal and illegal - even the President himself. No doubt illegal aliens form a cheap source of labor, but of course there are costs that come with that. First, a porous border makes for easy entry for those willing to do one particular job Americans aren't willing to do - like hijacking planes and flying them into sky-scrapers. But even short of that, you get quite a bit of your good old-fashioned murders.

Some will point out two obvious facts - most illegal immigrants are hard-working and law abiding citizens; and not all of those willing to blow up trains are illegal aliens - many of the UK bombers, for example, were born and bred in England. Both points are true, and neither are surprising. It is the second generation of migrants who have a more difficult time assimilating, difficult to the point where they start blowing things up or burning things down. The first generation, as poor as it often is in the states, knows the alternative, and considers itself comparatively very rich. The second generation, not knowing the poverty that their parents escaped, see the inequality of income and guys like Al Sharpton ranting and raving that the deck is stacked against anyone who isn't white, and figure - what the hell, let's blow something up.