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Consider consequences before acting

By Debbie Israel

October 10, 2008
 

On a recent episode of "CSI," the case was ultimately about a man who killed the mother of his children because she was going to move away (and take the children with her).

I turned to my mom and said, "This man is an idiot -- he didn't think it through. He kills the mother of his children and now they have no parents." My mom then told me that she remembered a scene on "Sesame Street" where a little girl was thinking about hitting her brother, but then she went through it in her mind and thought, "If I hit my brother, my mom will come out and yell at me." And she followed her action through to a logical conclusion at which point she decided not to hit her brother.

Recently, an Iranian Jewish woman, who hadn't seen her relatives in the U.S. in 28 years, wanted to visit them for the holidays. She secretly went through Europe to Israel and went with an Israeli relative who spoke some Farsi and English to the American Embassy in Tel-Aviv to get a tourist visa. The embassy employee denied her a visa. Why? Because there was no Iranian translator in the American Embassy and he couldn't be sure she wouldn't stay in the U.S. permanently.

Seems like this embassy worker didn't think through his actions.

With Iran on the verge of developing weapons that could destroy Israel and possibly the world, with freedom of religion at an all time low in Iran, with persecution of Jews simply for being Jews in Iran, how could this representative of the United States turn down this woman's request for a visa? Doesn't this worker know what she might face if the Iranian government finds out she was in Israel?

And when did the U.S. become a country club where we deny membership? When did the U.S. forget the words "asylum" and "defect"? Just because we no longer have the Soviet Union and other former "Iron Curtain" countries suppressing the rights of their citizens (that's probably an oversimplification, but I digress) doesn't mean we ought to be slamming the gates of Liberty Island closed.

Mind you, this woman only wanted to go for a visit. She wasn't planning on staying in the U.S.

Have we all forgotten how this country got started? Have we all forgotten that many of the early settlers in "the New World" came here for religious freedom?

Now, what was a private matter is very public, public enough for the anti-Jewish anti-Israel government of Iran to hear of this. When she returns to Iran, it is very likely that she will be arrested as a spy. And her family may already be in jeopardy.

I am embarrassed that my country could do this. I am shocked that a U.S. embassy worker would be so callous and uncaring. I am appalled that a decision this important, a decision that could affect this woman's very life and the lives of her family members in Iran, was left to a paper pusher.

As an American citizen, I was raised to be proud of the immigrant policies of our government. I was raised to believe that America offered hope for people in other countries, hope for freedom, hope for opportunity, hope for a better life. How can I support a total "180" in this policy? How can I continue to be proud to be an American if we slam our doors on those who need our help?

We need to make sure that people who need to come here don't fall through the cracks, just as we need to make sure that people like the terrorists who blew up the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon don't get a foothold. We need to remember what it means to be an American. We need to remember what America stands for to oppressed people.  And, like that little girl on Sesame Street, we need to think hard about the consequences of our actions.

Debbie Israel is a graphic artist (see https://
www.cafepress.com/compugraphd2 for some of her work) and tutor living in Highland Park.