Syrian immigrants pose a grave danger to all Americans – and especially to American Jews and gays. 

Top Obama administration officials testified that Syrian refugees cannot be properly vetted. As FBI Director James Comey stated, “We can query our databases until the cows come home, but nothing will show up because we have no record of them.”

Homeland Security Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee Chairman, Congressman Peter King (R-N.Y.) added: “There is absolutely no real way of vetting these refugees coming in … there is no intelligence on the ground – there are obviously no government records we can go to. Syria is a totally chaotic country, and it’s a hotbed of al Qaeda and ISIS. And we have no idea who’s coming out of Syria – it definitely puts the United States at risk.” 

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that U.S. intelligence officials have a “huge concern” about ISIS’ ability to infiltrate Syrian refugees. A top Lebanese minister warned that two out of every 100 Syrian migrants are ISIS fighters. An ISIS operative admitted that 4,000 ISIS fighters have been smuggled into Western nations, hidden among refugees. Congressman King wrote “We know that ISIL will attempt to infiltrate its members into the United States with these refugees … ISIS perpetrators of the Paris massacre traveled hidden among refugees.”

Comey also testified that the intelligence community is concerned that ISIS has the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intelligence sources reported that ISIS has passport printing machines, blank passport books and Syrian citizens’ biographical data for stealing identities.

Moreover, many of the Syrians support ISIS and hate Jews. An Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies poll of 900 Syrian refugees in November showed that a third of Syrian refugees are ISIS sympathizers, and 13 percent support ISIS. 

In addition, according to a 2007 poll cited in the article, “Opposing Syrian Muslim Refugees is a Jewish Value,” a staggering 77 percent of Syrians support Hamas – a terrorist organization whose charter calls for murdering every Jew. Hamas trainers and trainees, who are in Syria, may very well enter the United States as Syrian “refugees.”

The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes survey (2009) found that in majority Muslim nations such as Syria, over 90 percent held strongly unfavorable (anti-Semitic) attitudes towards Jews. 

Syrian Muslims are indoctrinated from an early age to celebrate martyrdom, act violently towards “enemies,” and hate Jews and Israel. A chilling recent study of Syrian textbooks found vicious anti-Semitic teachings. 

The violence perpetrated by Muslim immigrants in Europe – especially toward European Jews – portends what America has in store if we bring more such immigrants here. A recent ISGAP survey noted: “Perpetrators of the most extreme cases of violence against European Jews in recent years were Muslims.” In the wake of numerous Muslim attacks on German Jews, the leader of Germany’s Jewish community, Dr. Josef Schuster, warned that many refugees are from cultures marked by “hate towards Jews and intolerance,” and implored German Chancellor Angela Merkel to limit refugees. Schuster also reminded Merkel of the Islamists’ mistreatment of women and homosexuals.

Islamists are attacking Jews in America already. Our children are subjected to rampant, even violent, hateful anti-Semitism on some American college campuses. At City University of New York’s Hunter College last month, the anti-Israel hate group “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) chanted “Zionists out of CUNY!” and “Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada, death to the Zionists!” (Intifada means murdering innocent Jews.) Likewise, at UC Berkley in October, Muslim students shouted: “we support the intifada!” during an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel SJP rally. 

Muslim terrorist plots have targeted American synagogues in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

On New York’s Upper West Side last week, a Muslim man attacked and struck a Jewish bookstore owner in the face, while screaming “F- the Jews!”

San Bernardino terrorist Sayed Farook specifically targeted and killed a pro-Israel Messianic Jewish co-worker, Nicholas Thalasinos. According to the victim’s friend, Farook had been threatening Thalasinos, “telling him that Islam will rule the world, that Christians and Jews deserve to die; and that he (Thalasinos) was going to die.”

Shockingly, despite these grave perils, HIAS, the Anti-Defamation League, AJC, Union for Reform Judaism and the national JCRCs signed a joint letter with vicious anti-Israel organizations (i.e. Muslim Public Affairs Council, CAIR, the pro-BDS Presbyterians) supporting dangerous Syrian immigration, opposing additional restrictions and security measures on Syrian refugees, and giving credibility to these terrible anti-Israel groups. 

Even before San Bernadino , a Bloomberg poll showed that most Americans oppose bringing Syrian refugees here: 53 percent of Americans want to completely stop accepting Syrian refugees; plus 11 percent want to only accept Christian Syrian refugees. Only 28 percent favored continuing resettlement.

American Jews and the pro-Israel community should join ZOA and most Americans in opposing bringing more ISIS-infiltrated, Jew hating Syrian refugees here. 

This article was published by the Jewish Exponent and may be found here.

Morton A. Klein is the President of the Zionist Organization of America.