The problems with playing the Jew card on Syrian refugees

When discussing discrimination against a particular ethnic group, sympathizers love to play the Jew card. To play the Jew card is to point out that Jews, who have contributed so much to American society and culture in the past century, were once reviled and oppressed. The Jews embody the American dream of rags to riches, so playing the Jew card appeals to not only Jews but also to Americans in general.

Many commenters, including the Chronicle columnist Max Stayman, have been playing the Jew card by comparing Syrian refugees to Jewish refugees. Politicians, journalists, Facebookers and Tweeters are quick to remind us that, in 1939, America turned away the MS St. Louis, a German ship full of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi regime. This comparison likens those who oppose the Syrian Refugee Program to anti-Semites.

By playing the Jew card, they equate a four-year conflict with a thousand-year conflict. Syrians have been refugees since 2011; they have been without a state for only four years. European Jews lived in ghettos for centuries. They had been without a state for thousands of years.

By playing the Jew card, they confuse nationality with ethnicity. Syrians are a national group, while Jews are an ethnic group. The group we call “Syrian refugees” is actually comprised of three ethnic groups: Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims and Arab Christians (also a few Alawites and Druze). It is not fair to equate Sunni or Shia refugees with Jewish refugees. They are ethnic groups with very different characteristics.

1939’s Jews, with curly beards and funny hats, were homelessness incarnated: they had no power, no state and no agenda. They had always been friendly toward Western countries, even though Western countries had not always been friendly toward them.

By contrast, Sunnis and Shiites are very powerful and by no means homeless. The two groups control fifty nations. Unlike Jews, Sunnis and Shiites have often proved hostile to Western society (ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Hamas are Sunni; Iran and Hezbollah are Shia).

It is not politically correct to be suspicious of entire ethnic groups based on the actions of a radical few. But ethnic violence is a very real and often-deadly concept—racial killings on Duke’s doorstep serve as historic proof. Ethnic violence left 130 dead and 368 injured in Paris. Why bring that to America? Don’t we have enough racial tension already?

If there ever were a time to play the Jew card, it would be on behalf of Arab Christians. They have been marginalized for centuries. They are peaceful, small in number and defenseless. And they have always been friendly toward Western countries.