Obama Likens Syrian Refugees to Jews Fleeing Nazis
Echoing a slate of Jewish groups, President Barack Obama likened Syrian refugees to Jewish refugees in the 1930s.
“Scripture tells us, ‘For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as were all our fathers, we are strangers before you,’” Obama said Tuesday at a naturalization ceremony at the National Archives.
“In the Mexican immigrant today, we see the Catholic immigrant of a century ago,” Obama said.
“In the Syrian seeking refuge today, we should see the Jewish refugee of World War II,” he said. “In these new Americans, we see our own American stories — our parents, our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles, our cousins who packed up what they could and scraped together what they had.”
A range of Jewish groups, including those representing all the major Jewish religious streams, have recalled Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe denied entry into the United States in calling on the government to allow in refugees from Syria’s civil war.
Obama, who plans to bring in 10,000 Syrians over the next year, praised the Jewish groups for their support at White House Hanukkah celebrations earlier this month.
Most Republicans oppose the refugee resettlement.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30