The elephant in the room at all of these middle east meetings is that Israelis aren’t blowing up the world. Muslims are. Much of them Arabs.
Talking about peace as if the Arab world are the oppressed is a bit weird.
NYTs-
JERUSALEM — President Trump headed on Tuesday to Europe, where a devastating attack at a pop music concert in Manchester, England, grimly underscored his demand that Arab and Muslim countries drive extremists “out of this earth” and offered the first real test of how the president responds to a searing terror strike.
The second half of Mr. Trump’s foreign trip was intended to provide a platform for him to explain how his “America First” vision would affect global trade, the war in Afghanistan, the Syrian civil war and the future of NATO and the European Union.
But the attack, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday, seemed certain to scramble the rest of the trip.
White House officials said the president’s schedule would proceed as planned. But his interactions with the Continent’s leaders will be dominated by an urgent discussion about the security of public spaces and the world’s response to extremism.
That shift in topic could play into Mr. Trump’s political agenda at home, where he has repeatedly called for more restrictions on refugees and immigrants. And it could help the president make the case to world leaders for a more aggressive pursuit of terrorists in their communities.
BBC-
US President Donald Trump has said he will “do everything” to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace.
At talks with Mahmoud Abbas, he spoke of being gratified that the Palestinian leader had committed to taking necessary steps to “fight terrorism”.
Israel and the Palestinians have not held peace talks for three years and Mr Trump acknowledges it would be “one of the toughest deals of all” to broker.
This is the last day of the US president’s visit to the Middle East.
In both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Palestinians have held protests against the trip and in support of a hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
On Monday, Mr Trump said he had come to “reaffirm the unbreakable bond” between the US and Israel and that there was a “rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace” to the region.
He flew to Tel Aviv direct from Saudi Arabia, where at a summit on Sunday he urged Arab and Muslim leaders to work together to “drive out” Islamist extremists.
Did Hamas’ boss touch the Orb of Peace at the Peace Palace in the Land of Peace with others in the Religion of Peace?
“President Abbasho”…
Is a two bit terrorist trying lead an “invented people” to steal land from Israel,
Saudi Arabia should give them the ”Empty Quarter” to live in.
Gaza is filled with islamic terrorists. Abbas has as much control over the islamic terror as I do, none.
Peace is not the Islamic goal or vision.
You cannot have peace without destruction and submission of
islamic terrorists.
Stop the islamic refugee program, send those who came here back
to their countries of origin, before an American Manchester or another Trade Center bombing.
Who in their right mind doesn’t think it will happen here?
Cato, it will happen here and much worse. We are sitting on a powder keg, still making excuses, claiming most Muslims are peaceful. There is no moderate Muslim, ISIS is doing what the Koran says to do.
Just wait until they succeed in blowing up an LNG tanker in one of our ports. You ain’t seen nuttin’ yet.
I think one of the main stumbling blocks to our understanding of what is currently underway in Trump’s foreign policy regarding the ME is overlooking or missing a not-so-subtle change in thinking that has occurred. The new refrain, the new drumbeat, is that there really IS such a thing as a muslim extremist. As simple as that sounds, that is an earth-shaking change of heart/mind in the global war on what has been misleadingly referred to as generic “terrorism.” The word, “Islamaphobia” is receding into the background as our President, his team at State and leaders in the Arab/Muslim world think, speak and act candidly toward an enemy with a real, accurate name. Obama did everything he could to conflate and obscure the real threat of a specific actor, instead preaching the Western guilt of Islamaphobia. It crippled our military and it pushed a foreign policy agenda that was confused, confusing and deceitful. I’m not sure it is even important at this point to understand his motives or even we could completely understand them. But Trump has teased out the knots in this ball of tangled yarn and is moving forward and he is taking the ME/Arab world leadership to task and demanding real action on their part in stopping it. He was fearless in taking the fight to Assad in Assad’s own back yard, and he won’t be afraid to take the fight somewhere else if there is resistance to getting with the new program. Be hopeful. There is reason to be.
Excellent assessment, Abigail!
“Drive them out from the Earth!”
Why, thank you, OldGal46. I’m very, very encouraged by what I am seeing/hearing of this first overseas trip by this President. Delighted, really. He is the model of velvet hammer. I chuckle to myself when I recall his stump message: “Take the lumps out.” And he is.