Jewish Groups Praise Trump Call To Fight Islamist Extremism
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Jewish groups praised President Donald Trump for calling on Muslim nations to confront Islamist extremism during a speech to Muslim and Arab leaders at a summit in Saudi Arabia.
“President Trump’s refreshing honesty is welcome and needed in describing the Islamist extremist threat,” said David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee. “The fight against Islamist extremism is a battle between the forces of good and decency, on the one hand, and evil and a death cult, on the other.”
Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein in a statement issued late Sunday called the speech “historic, important, courageous.”
Klein said his organization was pleased that Trump strongly condemned Iran, that he condemned “ISIS, Hezbollah and Hamas and Iran in the same sentence – for they are all part of the same scourge of Islamist terror.”
“However, the President should have demanded that Muslim leaders and religious leaders should likewise condemn and delegitimize these terrorist groups by name,” Klein said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
