France will commit to accept 30,000 Syrian refugees

In a courageous move French President François Hollande declared on Monday during a gathering of both houses of Parliament in Paris that France would honor his country commitment to accept 30, 000 Syrian refugees over the next two years in spite of last Friday’s terror attacks from suspects of Syrian origin.

On Wednesday, President Hollande also made his announcement in at a gathering of mayors from French cities where he too received a standing ovation. He said 30,000 refugees will be welcomed over the next two years with a Euro fifty million investment fund to support and to provide housing of these refugees. He continued in his message that France would resettle these refugees after passing rigorous security checks. He reassured his country that France would honor its commitments under “humanitarian duty” and to show that in spite of suffering the terrible attacks on his country, he wants the world to know that the French remain true to their values. He spoke about showing the French courage and dismissed the attacks with a response to be portrayed as a “clash of civilization”.

"We have to reinforce our borders while remaining true to our values," the French president said.

This is contrary to the heated debate in the US where just about all the GOP Presidential candidates are trying to put a halt to even accept any Syrian refugees through their party’s legislative move in Congress. However, the sitting democratic party President, Barack Obama is hinting that he would not endorse such a legislation.

The U.S. State Department has said it has no intention of halting its efforts to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year. Speaking on to the press during the APEC trade summit in Manila, President Obama criticized on the hostility to refugees that he hears back in the US.

The Islamic State "seeks to exploit the idea that there’s war between Islam and the West," Obama said, "and when you start seeing individuals in position of responsibility suggesting Christians are more worthy of protection than Muslims are in a war-torn land that feeds the narrative (of the ISIS)."