President Trump and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman meet at the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 14, 2017. Photo courtesy of Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
On the first foreign trip of his presidency, Donald Trump on Sunday delivered an historic speech to 50 Muslim Leaders gathered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, calling for them to step up their cooperation and leadership in a worldwide fight against Islamist terrorism and extremism.
The President minced no words in applying pressure to America’s Gulf state allies to share in the burden of fighting extremism in their own backyard. “This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations. This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it,” Trump declared.
“That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires. And it means standing together against the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians.”
“Terrorism has spread across the world. But the path to peace begins right here, on this ancient soil, in this sacred land,” he said of the host nation.
Trump called on the Muslim leaders to offer no refuge to terrorists. “Drive them out,” Trump said. “Drive them out of your places of worship … drive them out of your holy land. Drive them out of this earth,” he said, punctuating his remarks by proclaiming that these leaders “cannot wait for American power,”
The President was clearly attempting to reset the strained and deteriorating relationship of former President Obama with Arab gulf states, and as reported by Onar Am in Liberty Nation on Saturday, Trump is being widely applauded across the middle east.
Trump will break more new ground by flying from Saudi Arabia directly to Israel. The symbolic gesture breaks with the precedent set by previous presidents who have traveled to one or more other nations between their visits to Arab nations and Israel. Trump will conclude his nine day trip with stops in Italy, the Vatican and Belgium.
The President’s entire speech can be viewed here:
