Ukraine: Middle East Sympathizes With Ukrainian Refugees

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The sight of a mass flight out of Ukraine reverberated strongly in the Middle East on Saturday, with many people taking to social media to express their sympathy and commiseration with those who have been forced to flee their homes due to a Russian military invasion.

However, in a region plagued by seemingly endless wars, some expressed resentment that European nations were being more compassionate toward Ukrainians than they had been in recent years toward Arab and Muslim migrants desperate to reach the safety of Europe’s shores.

Images of devastated cities from Syria and Iraq to Libya and Yemen have circulated online, with memes and comments accusing Western democracies of inciting violence and destabilizing these countries while evading responsibility and applying double standards, particularly in their treatment of refugees.

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As neighboring European countries opened their borders to tens of thousands of Ukrainians, many social media users pointed out how refugees from the Middle East had been treated harshly.

“Imagine the human face of Ukrainian refugees is also seen on MENA’s refugees,” tweeted Lina Zhaim, a communications manager from Lebanon, referring to the Middle East and North Africa region. “Imagine sovereignty & dignity as human rights not bound by race or nationality.”

Many commenters agreed that some European countries had been generous in relocating Middle Eastern migrants. In 2015 and 2016, a wave of asylum seekers fleeing the wars in Syria and Iraq made their way to Europe, and the European Union took in more than a million refugees, the majority of whom were Syrians, with Germany receiving the lion’s share.

However, Arab critics claimed that migrants from Muslim and Arab countries were frequently viewed as a threat, rejected, and, in some cases, confronted with force and violence as they attempted to enter Europe.

“What’s happening in Ukraine is incredibly tragic and heart-wrenching to watch,” said Rana Khoury, a Syrian-American postdoctoral associate researcher who focuses on the study of war and displacement at Princeton University. “But like many others, I also saw how these same countries who have put up so many obstacles to refugees fleeing conflicts in the Middle East open their borders to Ukrainians.”

In November, Polish security forces used batons to stop migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan from crossing the border.

In contrast, refugees arriving from Ukraine at the Polish border in recent days have been greeted with smiles, hot drinks, and transportation to railway stations.

In a Twitter post, Ayman Mohyeldin, an Egyptian-American television host on MSNBC with hundreds of thousands of followers, said, “So what you’re saying is that Europe knows how to humanely and compassionately welcome a large and sudden influx of refugees fleeing war?”

Ukrainians, unlike Middle Eastern migrants, are permitted to enter European Union countries without a visa. Poland already has a population of nearly one million people.

While acknowledging the generosity of some European countries, such as Germany, in accepting Middle Eastern migrants, Ms. Khoury saw an apparent bias.

“There are these justifications that somehow war and violence are endemic to the Middle East in ways that they are not to Europe,” she said, adding that Middle Eastern and African countries with much lesser capacities are left to host “many more refugees all the time.”

Many Syrians who oppose the government of President Bashar al-Assad watched the invasion of Ukraine with particular interest, having personally experienced a Russian military intervention in their country that destroyed cities and displaced huge numbers of people.

What You Need To Know About Russia’s Attack On Ukraine

What is at the root of this invasion? Russia considers Ukraine within its natural sphere of influence, and it has grown unnerved at Ukraine’s closeness with the West and the prospect that the country might join NATO or the European Union. While Ukraine is part of neither, it receives financial and military aid from the United States and Europe.

How It All Started Between Ukraine And Russia

Antagonism between the two countries has been simmering since 2014 when Russian troops stormed into Ukrainian territory after a pro-Western government replaced Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president. Then Russia annexed Crimea, sparking an eastward separatist movement. In 2015, a cease-fire was agreed upon, but violence has resumed.

How Ukraine Responded To Russia’s Invasion 

On Feb. 23, Ukraine declared a 30-day state of emergency as cyberattacks knocked out government institutions. Following the beginning of the attacks, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, declared martial law. The foreign minister called the attacks “a full-scale invasion” and called on the world to “stop Putin.”

Some posted images on social media of lines of cars fleeing an advance by Russian-backed Syrian forces two years ago next to photos of lines of cars fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

More than 5.6 million Syrian refugees remain in the Middle East, most of them in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Of those who have made it to Europe, most effectively forced their way in, crossing the Mediterranean on flimsy boats that sometimes sank, killing their passengers.

Once in Europe, many found that countries sought to shut their borders.

During the 10 years of war in Syria, the United States let in about 22,000 Syrian refugees.

Jomana Qaddour, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who focuses on Syria, said there is a tendency to blame Middle Eastern violence on the region’s culture.

On Saturday, one clip contrasting Ukraine with two predominantly Muslim countries ravaged by war appeared to go viral, setting off a firestorm of criticism.

Describing the flight of tens of thousands of Ukrainians, a CBS reporter expressed a sense of shock, saying, “But this isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades.”

The reporter, Charlie D’Agata, went on to describe the scenes he witnessed taking place in a “relatively civilized, relatively European” city.

New York Times