Earlier on Saturday, a story started buzzing around social media that progressive Democrats, including some in Congress, are insisting that the United States will have to open up its arms and take in a portion of at least a million refugees from Gaza, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

Guess which Democrat congressman it was? Jamaal Bowman, who recently faced possible expulsion from the House for his stunt of pulling the fire alarm during the fight over the government shutdown, as our sister site Twitchy wrote in their story.

They included this tweet featuring a quote from a New York Post piece:

NEW from me

Rep. Jamaal Bowman tells me the United States should take in refugees from Gaza. The White House repeatedly refused answer whether they would be open to the ideahttps://t.co/M0YtjgZs6w

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) October 14, 2023

Bowman said:

Fifty percent of the population in Gaza are children. The international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas.

At least he acknowledged that they need to properly check out anyone who might come to the U.S. Republicans in Congress, though, have already pushed back strongly on this idea, including Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Rick Scott (R-FL):

Rubio said: 

The U.S. is the most generous nation in the world, but we are in no position to accept additional refugees, especially from a region with as high a risk of terrorism, given our nation’s inability to secure our own border or vet those who are already here.

Cotton said:

 Iran should take responsibility for any Palestinian refugees caused by its proxy . . . war with Israel. Iran is responsible for the death and destruction — it should be responsible for refugees as well.

Scott said that our “entire focus....right now should be on rescuing American hostages, and making sure that Israel has every resource needed to defeat Iran backed-Hamas and defend its homeland.”

We should NOT take in 1 million refugees from Gaza—a region prone to terrorism and anti-semitism.

Where is the focus on our own southern border?

— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) October 14, 2023

During an event on Saturday, 2024 Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also addressed the Left's calls to bring over Gaza refugees to our shores from the war.

It is not our role to be absorbing people from Gaza.

And apart from this situation, if people with anti-Semitic, anti-American, or other toxic views are trying to come into our country, they should not be admitted. pic.twitter.com/IbcPy2zeYS

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) October 14, 2023

He said: (emphasis added)

We've got to be honest and look at this stuff. It's just like Iran. Biden tried to have a rapprochement with Iran, right? They gave them oil revenue, all of this stuff that's led to the funding of Hamas....

Iran has an ideology. The ideology is to destroy Israel, to kill Jews. America, they think, is the Great Satan.

That's their ideology. You're not going to be able to have a rapprochement with that.

DeSantis continued, speaking about the Left's calling for the U.S. to accept hordes of refugees from Gaza:

First of all, it's not our role to be absorbing people from there. But you've got to look going forward, apart from this: if people are bringing in things -- anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism -- to me, that would be a reason that you don't get admission to this country to begin with.

The whole thing that is supposed to unite us is that we have common values, about God-given rights, limited government.

Some of [this ideology in the region] is totally toxic.

He said, "I will challenge anyone, to say that in some of these countries, virulent anti-Semitism is not the norm -- if you're not willing to acknowledge that, then you've got your head in the sand. That is how folks think, in many of those countries."