Knesset head tells Europeans integrating migrants will stem terror

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein told European Union lawmakers Thursday that a solution to the refugee crisis gripping the continent must be found as soon as possible and that the successful integration of migrants was the best way to fight extremism.

“Our challenge as parliamentary leaders is to minimize the difficulties of integrating immigrants and maximizing their benefits to society,” he said to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Successful integration of immigrants “will not completely prevent the [incoming] wave of fanatic extremists that we saw in Nice, Brussels, Saint-Etienne or Istanbul,” said Edelstein in reference to the recent spate of terror attacks claimed by the Islamic State in Europe and Turkey. “But we must take into account that most migrants, like in Israel, arrive at their new destination with hopes for a better life and a better future for their children.”

“The more we help them integrate, the more we make it difficult for the extremists and their leaders to instill their blood-thirsty ideology within the younger generation,” he added.

“The more we help them integrate, the more we make it difficult for the extremists and their leaders to instill their blood-thirsty ideology within the younger generation.”

Edelstein opened his speech by noting that he himself was an immigrant, that Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was originally from Moldova and that the Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ez Elkin hailed from the Ukraine.

Edelstein told European parliamentarians from over 50 countries that he arrived in Israel 29 years ago “as one of the last dissidents to be freed. Today, I proudly address you as the Speaker of the Parliament of a nation of immigrants. Nearly one-third of Knesset members were born abroad.”

“We have Knesset members who are originally from the United States, Canada, Morocco and Ethiopia,” he said, adding that the country would be happy to share its experience in absorbing immigrants from across the world.

Edelstein cited opportunities to learn Hebrew, subsidizing housing costs, giving loans for small businesses and help with finding employment, as tools Israel has used to absorb immigrants.

“In Israeli society, there are still some tensions between immigrant groups — and it can take time, sometimes decades, to find their place in society,” he explained, adding that despite the challenges, “Israeli society is stronger, more united and healthier.”

Edelstein said that when seeking to successfully integrate immigrants, good legislation is needed, but “more important is creating an appropriate atmosphere” that helps fight extremism while absorbing new-comers.

In “fighting terror and terrorists with full force and educating our society on its identity while teaching it tolerance and acceptance of the ‘other,’ we assure the future of immigrants through economic, cultural and societal integration,” he said.