No concern that they are likely to fall into the loving arms of the jihadists. From the National Post, with thanks to Jerry Gordon:
An American Jewish organization is accusing the federal government of “callous indifference” over the fate of seven former members of Israel’s proxy army in Lebanon who have been ordered out of Canada as soon as possible.
The men have been denied refugee status here but, as veterans of the Israeli-backed South Lebanese Army (SLA), would face certain imprisonment, torture or even death if deported back to Lebanon, they and their defenders claim.
The Lebanese expatriates point to the case of a Canadian citizen who used to belong to the SLA and says he was jailed and tortured after visiting Lebanon this summer. He has since been freed and is back in Canada. But another SLA veteran deported to Lebanon last month is still in prison and has been tortured, according to a letter from his lawyer there and representatives of the American Jewish Committee.
“I ask the [Immigration] Minister if, in Canada, we have humanity for people like us?” said Joseph Semman, another SLA veteran who came to Canada with his wife, Nagham Rizk, in 2000 and now faces removal.
“He must leave us here. He must make a new life for us. We come here to work, to make a new life, to make a good life for me and my kids. We don’t come to Canada to fight or to do something wrong.”
The men are being denied refugee status on the basis of being members of a group that committed crimes against humanity. But they argue that they were small cogs in the organization and had nothing to do with any human rights violations, which watchdogs reported on both sides of the conflict in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon.
Mr. Semman, who has had two children in Canada, said he worked in an army body shop.
Supporters say the men especially risk retribution from Hezbollah, the fundamentalist Islamic group that has been banned as a terrorist organization by Canada and now all but controls southern Lebanon.