(April 4) - During World War II, Swiss authorities refused to let Jews fleeing Nazi
persecution in Germany and occupied France find refuge in their Alpine safe haven. They
were not doing this necessarily out of heartlessness or hatred of Jews: In most cases, patriotic
and otherwise humane Swiss bureaucrats just did not want to get involved in what was not
their conflict. They were also justifiably concerned about possible reactions from Nazi
Germany, which posed a real threat to Swiss security and, perhaps, even its very existence.

But by claiming that they were not their brothers' keepers, Swiss authorities acted in a
inexcusable way. Even if most did not know then that Jews sent back from the Swiss border
faced death and annihilation, they did, of course, realize that they were exposed to
discrimination, persecution, and hatred. These acts continue to haunt the Swiss until this
very day.

In recent days, Israel has behaved like Switzerland. In forcibly expelling 15 Iraqi Kurds -
among them women and children - back to Lebanon, the Israeli authorities behaved
heartlessly, stupidly, and brought shame on the Jewish people.

The usual excuses could be found: we are not a land of refuge (the Swiss would agree); there
may be spies among the refugees (again, the Swiss would not demur); if we let these few in,
many more would follow (the Swiss would applaud).

What we have seen unfolding at the Lebanese border was heartrending: Citizens from an
Arab country look for refuge in the Jewish state - and are refused. The Ministry of Defense,
which ultimately rules on such issues, should seriously look at its decision-making process
and its value system.

Those people were Iraqi Kurds. It is no secret that in the past (last time after the Gulf War),
Israel was involved in helping the Kurdish insurrection in Iraq militarily. There are good
strategic as well as humanitarian reasons for this: Israel is certainly interested in helping any
non-Arab minority in the Middle East, and the Jewish state cannot stand by when a small,
persecuted minority is victimized by brutal regimes, that even use poison gas against its own
citizens.

We have a new minister of defense, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and it is only natural that in these
difficult days he is, and should be, preoccupied with how to restore security to Israel's
citizens. He was, in the past, involved in a well-intentioned, yet eventually misguided, effort
to help the Christian Maronites in Lebanon. He hopes one day to become prime minister:
One wonders if someone so callous should even be considered as a serious candidate to lead
our country.

When it comes to Iraqi Kurds, is the only help we can offer them that of guns and military
advice, and when a few families seek refuge in our country, should we really behave like the
Swiss?

One also wonders why the voice of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was not heard on that
issue in the fateful days during which this small - yet morally and politically significant -
decision was made. From someone looking for a new Middle East, extending some charity to
the victims of the old Middle East could be expected.

And last, but not least: at a time when Israel has a serious problem of conveying to a
skeptical world the image of what it would like to be, could one envisage a better image than
the magnanimity of a beleaguered country willing to take in a few refugees? Europeans at
the moment are not too enthusiastic about Kurdish refugees. But should Israel follow the
xenophobic European model? As Jews, we should know better.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com