[Cont.]
I don't agree that people can just wash up on shore and call the place home. The second you are on our shores you will gain benefits from our society. We will not let you starve, and if you need medical assistance, you will receive it.

Somebody had to build that infrastructure, somebody had to pay so those services are available to the citizenry.

These are benefits the existing society created for themselves, and you too can share those benefits.
Saying these 'animals' can be here, but they do not get the benefits turns a society into chaos.
Next minute you're in the street holding a cup wanting something for nothing, because you want the same level of dignified existence everyone else enjoys.
And the next minute after that you're running around with a machete attacking people because society didn't include rights for you and you feel marginalised and discriminated against.

Dear Critic,

Since the Israel-Gaza wall fell on October 7th, over 5,000 hungry and neglected dogs strayed from Gaza into Israel.
Israelis are urged not to adopt them because they carry many nasty diseases, including rabies.

Still, there is no criminal ban on it.
If someone still adopts such a dog, then they are not only more likely to get sick, possibly even die, but would also incur harsher penalties if despite the warnings they negligently allow such a dog to infect others.

Others may choose to shoot these dogs for fear of disease, and that's OK too.

People who wash up on a shore should not be treated worse than these dogs, particularly if citizens adopt them and vouch for community safety.

«If you are to argue that the people aren't the owners of their country, or do not have authority over it, or the future direction of their society, then who does?»

Regarding one's society, yes, people can decide what is best for their society: after all they created it.

However, people did not create the earth and despite the Biblical tale, were not given ownership or authority over it.
The fact is, they can order the cockroaches 1000 times not to come into their homes - and the cockroaches still will!

So regarding the country/land, the simple answer is God.

Now it's not that simple, but for the purpose of this discussion I think it suffices that it's not people who own the earth, otherwise we would need to digress and delve deeply into theology.

«in the real world doing so will leave a vacuum that someone else will step into and then they will act as the owner or the authority, and the people will have no say.»

An exact description of the real world - cockroaches!

«An individual can choose not to be an active part of society, but they still enjoy the benefits of that society.»

Correct. It is up to each society to set up its own acceptance rules.

[continued...]

[...continued]

«The second you are on our shores you will gain benefits from our society. We will not let you starve»

That is your choice, buddy. You don't have to. The new arrivals too could choose not to accept your food.

«Next minute you're in the street holding a cup[...] And the next minute after that you're running around with a machete»

Should that happen, nothing stops you from acting in self-defence.

And as for holding a cup, remember, you are not required to give these non-citizens any legal/police protection, so if they hold out a cup and that be a nuisance, just as if a dog held out that cup, then one could simply take that cup away from them along with its contents.

"Since the Israel-Gaza wall fell on October 7th, over 5,000 hungry and neglected dogs strayed from Gaza into Israel.
Israelis are urged not to adopt them because they carry many nasty diseases, including rabies."

Dogs with rabies have to be euthanised I think, but if the animal isn't acting rabid, you take it to the vet, as you would with any rescue dog to find out the true state of it's health.

I sometimes watch videos of rescue dogs, people in foreign countries where poverty is rife make these videos because they they get a lot of views (and thus income for the creator of the video)
Even though I know that some of these people do it not for the welfare of the animal but for the money, I still watch them, because watching them means the dogs are cared for. I've seen some dogs in some horrible states you couldn't imagine come back from the brink of death and go on to find their forever homes.
- Life's a journey.

"However, people did not create the earth and despite the Biblical tale, were not given ownership or authority over it."
- Ah, that's your angle.
We are top of the food chain, humans have domain over the earth.
We can turn jungles into deserts and deserts into jungles, if we put our mind to it.

Dear Critic,

«We are top of the food chain, humans have domain over the earth.
We can turn jungles into deserts and deserts into jungles, if we put our mind to it.»

Pride makes you fall.

It's not statement of pride it's a statement of fact.
Human beings have created civilisations and conquered the land.
High-rise buildings, farming, livestock, electricity, refrigeration, operating theatres etc.

Mans best friend, as loving and loyal as they are, did not create these things.
Human beings have created spacecraft that are reaching for the stars.