When we saw reports telling us that the White House is considering “welcoming” Gazan refugees to the U.S., our first thought “that’s not a good idea.” We still think that, but if Joe Biden is determined to be foolish, we strongly suggest that he locate the first of them in his hometown.

According to CBS News, which apparently was able to access internal federal government documents, the administration is thinking of offering a “permanent safe haven to some of those fleeing war-torn Gaza.”

“In recent weeks, the documents show, senior officials across several federal U.S. agencies have discussed the practicality of different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents.”

Sounds humanitarian. But it would be, charitably speaking, injudicious.

No one wants to see innocents killed in war. But how many innocents are there in Gaza? In 2006, the Palestinians gave Hamas, a genuine terrorist organization that “explicitly opposes Israel’s existence,” a parliamentary majority. There have been no elections since.

Even today, after being under the authority of Hamas for nearly two decades, there is widespread support among the Palestinians for terrorists and murderers. A poll taken less than two months after the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion and attempted genocide showed “a rise in support for Hamas, which appears to have ticked up even in the devastated Gaza Strip.”

The poll, taken from Nov. 22 to Dec. 2, found that “57% of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank believe Hamas was correct in launching the October attack,” says the Associated Press.

Another poll, this one taken in late March, showed that 71% of Gazans say the Oct. 7 raid was correct, up from 57% in late December. This sharp increase happened even as deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip have caused support for Hamas to fade. Is it possible that Palestinians just have a deeply rooted, ineradicable hatred of Israel and the Jews?

We acknowledge that there is a small core of Palestinians who oppose Hamas and might not cause trouble in the U.S. after their arrival. (We have quite enough pro-Hamas trouble as is, much of it carried out by American-born useful idiots on college campuses whose support for an organization of savages is, alarmingly, growing. This country is also struggling with the consequences of an open southern border policy, which has stretched resources, space, and patience beyond breaking points.)

But how can we be sure those are the only refugees we take in? Given how poor this administration has been on vetting aliens, if it is even vetting migrants at all, there’s no way to know.

So we suggest that Biden send the first of the refugees to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Not because the people of that city deserve a punishment, but because that’s what a real leader, a man of character, would do.

But that’s not how it will play out. It’s far more likely the Palestinians will end up unvetted, unaccompanied, jobless, homeless, and as bitter as Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. And they won’t be escorted to Martha’s Vineyard. Instead, they will be taken to red states, where the blue elites don’t have to see them or suffer the fallout of an absolutely reckless policy.

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board