European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker is said to have commented on the Paris attacks by saying “Those who organized these attacks and those who carried them out are exactly those who the refugees are fleeing from.”

The refugees are currently stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea literally and metaphorically. Vilonence back home is what compelling them to take the risk of crossing the vast seas to reach out for a safe haven.

The European countries are intensely reviewing the status of the immigration and asylum seekers thanks to the horrendous psychopathic Paris crimes. There are still loud voices among the western leaders about keeping the immigration crisis away from being analyzed within the context of potential terror escalating factors. Seeing the immigration crisis as a sole humanitarian and critical situation is the best way to go.

Shutting the doors against immigrants and asylum seekers will just serve the interest of the terror organizations. These people are homeless, jobless and the risk to their very existence is just around the corner. They desperately took to the seas risking their lives and their families in a do-or-die solemn decision to cross to the European shores. If they go back they will fall prey to the terrorism monsters and some of them can even be recruited by terror groups.

It is the legitimate right and duty to employ whatever security check on the immigrants to separate the wheat from the chaff and to continue applying security watch on whatever appears to be a threat but this should be dealt with by the best of our human features and values.

Dr. Hatim Kheirallah

Riyadh