Admitting Gazan refugees would be proof that Britain has a death wish

[Cantonet]

Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph today.
The sheer level of hatred in this article horrifies me. Am I wrong to feel so shocked by this?

in what context?

Honestly, nearly 20 years ago I campaigned to help house asylum seekers in a local hotel, in the face of strong local opposition. I wrote to the papers, and everything. I suppose over the years I've just learned that wishing the world was a nicer place doesn't make it so. In my dreams, everyone plays together nicely. In reality, they don't, and unfortunately that makes for a much more difficult world to navigate with care.

This is obviously correct. Tominey’s language is perhaps intemperate but she is right. To do this would create significant security risk for Britons of all faiths and we are entitled to expect the government to prioritise our safety.

Yes it's in the government's interest to blame everything that's going wrong in the UK on refugees, not the governments fault at all!

The thing I learnt from Brexit is that there is no point arguing with stupid. And also that racism and xenophobia typically trumps all logic or rational debate.

Translation: what I learnt from Brexit is I’m definitely right about everything and anyone who disagrees is evil or an idiot.

And the USA has a 1/4 of a million, since all Palestinians anywhere are considered refugees. What’s your point?

That there is no point in whining on about Jordan taking in Palestinian refugees as if they aren't already hosting rather a lot of them.

I think PP’s point is that calling people who were pro Brexit “stupid” obviously didn’t stop Brexit from happening.
Sure, you can call them whatever you want and feel all superior, but don’t you think it might have been better to have an actual debate with them?
And I say it as someone who certainly didn’t want Brexit.

@CatSucker I don’t believe the country can be a home to more than a minority of Gaza refugees, but to use housing as a justification is mean spirited. We have more bedrooms per capita than at any time in history, 55% of homes have at least one spare bedroom and there’s about 2 bedrooms per person in the country. We do not have a shortage of homes, we have a really bad distribution of homes where millions of people have more bedrooms than they strictly need (which is not to say some of those rooms don’t have a use), whilst many children are being raised in overcrowded expensive rental accommodation. This is all linked to the use of homes as financial assets, and mass sale of council housing and privatisation of the rental sector, contributing to spiralling house prices. It is not the fault of Gazans whose living conditions are unimaginable and for whom a bed and a roof at all right now would feel luxurious. Ours is not a housing crisis in the way that during WW2 we really did have thousands of people homeless due to bombing, when the situation in some English cities was more akin to Gaza, and when the answer was not to close borders, but to provide homes.

Not at all. I have no issue at all with people who disagree with me.

It is just the racists and xenopobes that I find to be idiots and not worth arguing with.

Evil? Well, that's quite a strong word. I suspect most of them are just quite stupid.

I rather suspect that it's the full throated supporters of 2000lb bombs on Gaza that now don't want refugees. Make the place unliveable then refuse to help them, and stir up some more racial and religious hatred while they are at it.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I didn't call the Brexiteers stupid at the time, and instead I tried to debate the issues. It was only later that I realised that what a waste of time that had been, and how reason will never trump blind prejudice. Hence my comment that that's what I learnt from Brexit. Sometimes it's better to just not engage.

I can't see any news sources saying that the UK is planning to take Gazan refugees so I'm a bit suspicious why this article has appeared. The title is very inflammatory.

The ideal solution would be for Israel to stop decimating Gaza in such a way that its impossible for people to live there. If they won't, then yes there will be refugees as the only alternative to large scale deaths. To be honest I think allies of Israel should be taking them as we are supporting Israels actions that means Gaza is being made uninhabitable.

Egypt and many surrounding countries don't have the resources to easily house 2 million refugees and I don't see why they have more responsibility to do so than we do.

There are a number of ways to define stupidity: one is doing (or saying) the same thing multiple times and expecting different results.
something to reflect on there, perhaps

Who do you consider racist and xenophobic though? Would anyone who has any issues whatsoever with any type of migration count?

Not even a gesture in the direction of recognising security risk to the uk or the uk governments duties to its own people.
quite remarkable

there goes parliamentary democracy up in smoke. Great plan

@Dulra A population that is 71% terrorist supporters is in no way typical of refugees generally or immigrants generally.

I can't see how it helps support for immigration or refugees to speak as if it is.

I want more immigrants and more refugees. As this is a democracy, the onus is on people like me to show we are not reckless of people's legitimate concerns. Concerns about terrorism are not per se illegitimate, and looking at the data is not prejudice but the opposite. We also need public support --- we have seen that British people can be very welcoming of refugees and immigration, but that support can be fragile. Calling people racist for having a different view is unlikely to win people over.

[Edited because I made a statistical claim about support for immigration rising, but I can't find the chart I was thinking of]

But you can argue that for any refugees Britain takes. Every country if it comes to it will be expected to take refugees coming from Gaza. The government has specific budgets for it. For the most part psychological support is part of the support package offered to all refugees.

It would be far better for 'European' countries, if they wish to do something, to financial contribute to the refugees remaining close to home
It would be far better that they can remain in Gaza safe from harm. As I said in my post the majority of refugees do get housed in neighbouring countries first so as I said it is unlikely the UK will have to take any Palestinians. So the thread is debating a very unlikely scenario and some posters language and suggestions are pretty terrible and unnecessary given the fact that it is unlikely to ever happen anyway.

Hamas have a problem with Israel,not the West writ large.

You are also doing that thing of equating Palestinians with Hamas. Most refugees will have nothing to do with Hamas and will be traumatised people looking for safety.

So I reject the Torygraphs whole premise that Palestinian refugees are a security threat. Its just right wing fear mongering.

A population that is 71% terrorist supporters is in no way typical of refugees generally or immigrants generally.
Where does this figure come from?

Calling people racist for having a different view is unlikely to win people over.
I'm not I'm calling some of the language and statements made about Palestinians racist.

Exactly. I'm an idealist, not a racist. But it doesn't serve anyone to be naive, and ultimately it is rather racist to base immigration policy on some kind of vague goodwill towards those we consider less fortunate.

No, I think it's perfectly acceptable to have a reasonable and rational argument about how migration should be managed, what level of migration is acceptable, which categories of migrants should be prioritised etc.

I am talking about the racists who seem to have no grasp on what our actual immigration policies are at present but feel quite at liberty to spout forth their opinions anyway; those who do not appear to understand the difference between legal and illegal migration and can't be arsed to find out; those who are unable to acknowledge the significant benefits that some immigration brings; those who are prejudiced against certain categories of immigrant because of what they look like or which god they worship; those who make fatuous statements about this island being "full"; those who contributed to the massive rise in racist hate crime after the Brexit referendum because they believed that the result gave them permission to behave badly towards anyone who didn't look like they thought "British people" should. Shall I go on?

I've no doubt that there is a good deal of racism when it comes to how the British public in general feels about various different refugees. But I also don't think we should totally ignore the fact that different cultures/religions may find it easier/harder to assimilate.