[ad_1]
The group, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, did not respond to the allegation (although it decried the shooting), probably because of its long history as a protector and defender of the persecuted.
After nearly 140 years of refugee resettlement – from Jews fleeing Russia and Eastern Europe in 1881 to migrant caravans of many religious denominations around the world – the group has helped more than 4 , 5 million people to escape the persecution.
When the White House reduced the number of refugees admitted into the country – from 110,000 in 2017 to 30,000 in 2019 – Hetfield accused President Donald Trump of "betraying the commitments we made after the Second World War." world … to make the world turn its back on innocent people seeking security. "
An armed man targeted HIAS in riots
The alleged Pittsburgh gunman saw things differently, hearing his messages on social media. The members of the caravan were undoubtedly violent, simply because of the violence from which they were fleeing the countries, he said.
He then announced that he preferred the term "invaders" to "illegal" to describe immigrants and shortly before the declaration of the massacre, "HIAS likes to attract invaders who kill our people".
The following message seems to unveil his so-called projects concerning the Tree of Life: "I can not sit down and watch my people get slaughtered, show off your sights, let me in."
Hetfield said that the suspect was not known to HIAS despite his assignments.
137 years of relocation
Resettlement means more than moving migrants to a safe place. It also means helping them acclimatize to their new environment. HIAS has "resettlement partners" in San Diego, Northern California, Wilmington, Delaware; Clearwater, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; North Carolina, Seattle, Madison, Wisconsin and several cities in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh.
Founded in 1881 by American Jews wishing to help Jewish families fleeing Russia and Eastern Europe, HIAS began with a showcase in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
As the Jewish population of New York increased, HIAS provided shelter, meals, clothing, rides and employment to newcomers. In 1904 she added an office in Ellis Island to help Jewish immigrants with translation, kosher meals, railway tickets, medical screenings and $ 25 loans to cover their "landing fees". According to the history of the group, it has also brought immigrants into contact with family members so that they are neither detained nor sent back to Ellis Island.
He saved hundreds of thousands of Jews during and after the two world wars. After the 1951 Refugee Convention – which defines the term refugee and rights for displaced persons – HIAS has become non-denominational in its efforts. During the 1970s, HIAS helped Jews fleeing Hungary, Egypt, Cuba, Algeria, Morocco, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ethiopia and Iran, but also helped Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
In the 2000s, the group worked with refugees in conflict areas around the world, including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Kenya, Tunisia and several former Soviet satellites.
"We are the only Jewish organization whose mission is to help refugees wherever they are," HIAS said.
"HIAS was what held you attached"
A refugee who will not forget the help of HIAS to shelter with his family is the author Lev Golinkin, whose emigration at the age of 9 years from the Soviet Union is documented in his memoir "A backpack, a bear and eight cases of vodka."
He first heard the acronym in 1989. He did not know what that meant, but he heard that once he and his family had arrived at Vienna's main train station, in Austria, "HIAS will help." It was a refrain, he repeated as he and his family hitchhiked on Austrian roads and underwent rigorous asylum interviews at the US embassy.
Today, Golinkin writes, he sees people fleeing gang violence in Central America and wars in the Middle East and East Asia – more horrific episodes than his family has experienced – and he knows what HIAS means to them: "an international word for hope, in dozens of languages and for many faiths".
HIAS refugees include rich and famous people – actors, athletes, inventors and musicians – but most of the people she has helped are normal people who drive American taxis, clean their homes, bandage their wounds and protect their homes. companies, Golinkin said. .
"They know that the United States can give you a new life, but they also know it has a cost," says his column. "HIAS was what was left when the rest of your life was disintegrated, when there was no money, no way to communicate, no turning back. was in the world when you became a ghost, but you were not yet ready to die. "
Catherine E. Shoichet and John Avlon of CNN contributed to this report.
[ad_2]Source link