Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Evacuating Danish Welfare Cheats from Lebanon

Scandinavian nationals being evacuated from Lebanon

Reader JDM has translated material from a Danish newspaper for Gates of Vienna. His comments are below, followed by the letter itself.

This was published as a Letter to the Editor yesterday (July 31st) in the Fyens Stiftstidende. Although a provincial newspaper, the island of Funen is home to the third largest city in Denmark and also, unfortunately, one of the worst ghettos (Vollsmose) outside of Copenhagen.

The link requires a subscription. I am grateful to the Snaphanen blog for the text.

Context: Like the US, Denmark also started an evacuation of Danes in Lebanon after everyone (especially Israel) decided to take the recent provocations of Hizb’allah seriously. Unlike the US, however, a national debate about these evacuees quickly became hot and heavy. The following letter examines some of the facts behind the debate.

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There were grounds for speculation when it was suddenly necessary to evacuate 2300 “Danes” from Lebanon. Do that many Danes really go on vacation in Lebanon? It was shortly revealed that these were actually Palestinians with Danish passports.

This caused a wave of understandable irritation among Danish citizens and taxpayers when it was no longer possible to hide the fact that the “Danes” who had to be evacuated had been given political asylum in Denmark but nonetheless lived in that land from which they originally fled in that their lives were in danger. While I write this (July 27), the news on TV is reporting that more than 5600 persons have been evacuated. The July 16 copy of Jyllands-Posten reported that the [Danish] Foreign Ministry calculated that there were at most 2300 Danes in Lebanon; because of this, I would estimate the evacuation to be a huge success seeing as how it has resulted in twice as many evacuees as expected — with more to go.

Some letters-to-the-editor have responded to this irritation by claiming that political refugees should obviously be able to go home and visit their families without being checked as whether they are defrauding the [Danish] system of social services. One letter in particular argued the position that the Danish state ought not verify the needs of these traumatized people and in so doing raised the question if the legal principle of being equal in the eyes of the law does not also include the traumatized?

Unfortunately, these viewpoints are not based on any of the realities of this case.

According a report from [Danish] Immigration Ministry (12/2002), the number of refugees and their descendants from Lebanon who are living in Denmark is 20,566. Far more than a fourth of this number has now been brought out of Lebanon. Danish-Palestinian organizations estimate the total number of Danes in Lebanon to around 10,000. Say what? Can more than a fourth and up to around a half of an entire group of people be on vacation at the very same time? It doesn’t seem possible. On the contrary, there seems to a situation in which a large group of people, who have political asylum in Denmark, actually live in their home country for much of the time. Many stay in Lebanon while they get social benefits and unemployment insurance — this is welfare cheating.

The report from the Ministry of Integration mentioned above also reveals how many of this group of people are employed: 30-some percent of the men and less than 20% of women. This would seem to document that there are more “Danish” Palestinians in Lebanon than are actually employed in Denmark.

And even if one imagines that all businesses in Denmark hold their vacation at the exact same time, the numbers above still clearly lead one to conclude widespread welfare cheating.

This cannot be a surprise to anyone. The latest report from Denmark’s Statistics shows that people from Lebanon have the highest rate of crime in Denmark. While between 2.2% and 2.3% of Norwegians and Swedes who live in Denmark have been punished for criminal activity, 9.7% of people from Lebanon have — and furthermore, their crimes occur more often and are more serious offenses. Surely it would be a good idea to investigate these evacuees’ situation more closely?

— Carsten Ringsmose

12 comments:

Prodicus said...

Mark Steyn has written a similar article about "50,000 Canadians".

http://www.macleans.ca/switchboard/columnists/article.jsp?content=20060807_131246_131246

Kathy K said...

Yeah - that's why I haven't been any too worried about rescuing 'Americans' in Lebanon either...

bordergal said...

Look at how much joy the Lebanese muslims have brought to Australia.
They are a bunch of thugs, who terrorize and harass the native Aussies (particularly women who enjoy the beach without a burkha).

Today, a Saudi woman was given a tiny sentance here in the US for imprisoning her Indonesian maid.

No mas.

Frank said...

Bruce Bawer in "While Europe Slept" discusses this phenomenon as well. I can't remember the exact statistics, but I recall it was something like 60-80% of the welfare budget is eaten up by immigrants, who make up 10-20% of the population. Something outrageous like that.

He also explains why...although I suspect we all know why: he claims its because the Ummah are encouraged to take what they can get from the infidel. I would add to that the fact that much of Asia (not confined to Islam) is a "baksheesh society"; a sort of economic war of all against all in which what we call corruption is merely the way business is done.

I grew up in India, and I know damned well that if one wants anything done, a palm or two has to be greased.

Much of the reason also includes the loyalties of Asian societies, which are very much to the family, then the tribe, and finally to the state. Within thios mindset, if the state wants to give out freebies, they'll take them gladly.

This is an asian immigration problem; not just a Muslim one.

kepiblanc said...

scottsa --

This is an asian immigration problem; not just a Muslim one.

Then please explain why immigrants from China, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Christians from Lebanon and Egypt integrate without any trouble or difficulty whatsoever - at least here in Denmark ?

As the article mentions, that's why our Immigration Service lately prefers Christian refugees over Muslim ones when issuing stay permits for the UN quotas. And is criticzised for doing so by our own do-gooders.

Apart from a few Romas (gypsies) all the trouble starts and ends with Muslims. Please explain.

Consul-At-Arms said...

Fascinating news. I've linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2006/08/re-evacuating-danish-welfare-cheats.html

Frank said...

kepiblanc:
"Then please explain why immigrants from China, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Christians from Lebanon and Egypt integrate without any trouble or difficulty whatsoever - at least here in Denmark ?"

I have no idea how immigrants from China, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Christians from Lebanon and Egypt behave in Denmark. I don't live there. I strongly suspect they are not integrating as well as you think they are though, and that you are allowing your focus on Islam to obscure the fact. Whatever. Maybe they act completely different in Denmark than in Canada...

Nilk said...

I know everyone will be shocked - shocked! I tell you! - to find that we have the same situation here in Australia with Lebanese-Australians (aka Lebs) living over there while apparently on welfare.

I don't have the links to hand, but Centrelink, our premier government welfare agency, was the go-to group for the government to find out how many "Aussies" were requiring evacuation.

Around 25000. Like every other country, the consensus has been disbelief that so many Aussies were vacationing there. After all, it's not like that area has been considered a safe and secure destination.

Also interesting was that the government chartered ferries and other means to evac our 'citizens', and actually had vacancies available.

All of the bleating from Lebs over there about how slack the Dept of Foreign Affairs are at getting them out of trouble and back home, and they don't show when the rescue is at hand!

In Russet Shadows said...

All of this points to the West's out-of-control government bureaucracies. The problem is that the state apparatus has simply become too large and reaches out in maddening ways to expand its power, to the death of its host.

anti-uffe said...

It may have been reported here already, but one of the evacuees was Mr. 'Taqiyya with a cow's eyes' Ahmad Akkari, one of the main actors in the hate junket to the Middle East during the Motoon crisis. On more than one occasion he has suggested leaving this country as he didn't feel his presence was desired here. Now he comes back, care of Her Majesty's government.

The controversy over the suggestion that these evacuees be checked for fraud only demonstrates how far, far away we are from even beginning to discuss the problem of Islamic colonization of our country.

Profitsbeard said...

What is the Danish word for "Sucker"?

kepiblanc said...

profitsbeard said : What is the Danish word for "Sucker"?

I can think of et least 100. In that respect Danish is a very rich and flavoured language. But - alas - completely incomprehensible to foreigners. We do however have a word that can be used in English as well as in Danish, namely : Claphat (Danish : Klaphat). Feel free to use it.