‘Battle between good and evil’
Trump calls on Arabs to purge themselves of extremists
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Donald Trump on Sunday implored Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries to extinguish “Islamic extremism” emanating from the region, describing a “battle between good and evil” rather than a clash between the West and Islam.
In a pointed departure from his predecessor, Trump all but promised he would not publicly admonish Mideast rulers for human-rights violations and oppressive reigns.
“We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,” Trump said, speaking in an ornate room in the Saudi capital. “Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for us all.”
The president’s address was the centerpiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first overseas trip since his January swearingin. For Trump, the trip is a reprieve from the crush of controversies that have marred his young presidency and an attempt to reset his relationship with a region and a religion he fiercely criticized while a candidate.
During the 2016 U.S. campaign, Trump mused about his belief that “Islam hates us.” But on Sunday, standing before dozens of regional leaders, he said Islam was “one of the world’s great faiths.”
While running for the job he now holds, Trump heartily criticized President Barack Obama for not using the term “radical Islamic extremism” and said that refusal indicated that Obama did not understand America’s enemy. In his Saudi speech, Trump condemned “Islamic extremism,” but not once did he utter the precise phrase he pressed Obama on.
Trump made no mention of the disputed travel ban, signed days after he took office, that temporarily banned immigration to the U.S. from seven majority Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Both the original order and a second directive that dropped Iraq from the banned list have been blocked by the courts.
In some ways, Trump delivered a conventional speech for an American politician. He pledged deeper ties with the Middle East to tackle terrorism and encouraged more economic development in the region. He heralded the ambitions of the region’s youth and warned that the scourge of extremism could tarnish their future.
There were no promises of new financial investment or announcements of increased U.S. military presence in the region. The president put much of the onus for combating extremists on Mideast leaders: “Drive them out of your
places of worship. Drive them out of your communities.”
Trump’s remarks came in a meeting with dozens of Arab leaders who gathered in Riyadh for a summit with Trump and Saudi King Salman. Beforehand, Trump held individual meetings with leaders of several nations, including Egypt and Qatar.
His meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi underscored their burgeoning kinship. Trump praised el-Sissi for the April release of Egyptian-American charity worker Aya Hijazi, detained in the country for nearly three years.
El-Sissi invited Trump to visit him in Egypt, adding, “You are a unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible.” As the participants laughed, Trump responded: “I agree.”
The president then complimented el-Sissi’s choice of footwear: “Love your shoes. Boy, those shoes” after their brief remarks to the media.
Trump cut short his program in Saudi Arabia, abruptly skipping an event aimed at highlighting how social media can be used to combat extremism. He sent his daughter, Ivanka, instead.
Meanwhile in Israel, all the trappings of a warm welcome are on display in anticipation of Trump’s arrival today. U.S. flags are flying alongside Israeli ones at Ben-Gurion International Airport, outside Tel Aviv. Posters declaring “Jerusalem welcomes Trump” hang across the city and are pasted to walls.
Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered all Cabinet ministers to attend the airport welcome for Trump after he learned that some planned to skip it, according to Army Radio.
Trumps’ denunciation of Shiite Muslim Iran and his tough view of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas in his speech Sunday to leaders of Sunni Muslim nations gathered in Saudi Arabia will be warmly received here.
But reality has set in as all Trump’s earlier talk — of moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, of not worrying about Jewish settlements in Arab land and of dropping insistence on the two-state solution — appears to have been just that: talk.
“He’s like any politician,” said Shlamit Lev-ran, an art student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “They say one thing and then after they’re elected they do another. I see no difference.”