The New Route to Europe
29th September 2016
Five years ago, during the first rush of the “Arab Spring”, the vast bulk of the migrants who attempted the sea crossing to Lampedusa came from Tunisia and Libya. Later, after the United States fomented the civil war in Syria, Syrian and Iraqi “refugees” became more numerous. When the Aegean became the preferred route, and especially after German Chancellor Angela Merkel invited all the Syrians to come, every Middle Eastern Muslim who wanted to come to Europe transformed himself into a “Syrian”.
Until recently, Egyptians were not prominent among the migrants. All that seems to be changing — a traffickers’ boat from Egypt recently capsized in the Mediterranean, and 162 people drowned. As always, this sort of story tugs the heartstrings of Westerners, and now the attention of the Gutmenschen is focused on Egypt.