In response to reporters at a recent daily briefing, President Donald Trump denounced the persecution of Christian minorities in the Middle East, calling the practice “beyond disgraceful.”
At the Thursday briefing, Trump was asked how the historic peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates would help persecuted Christians in the region.
“I think it’s going to, I think it’s a big start,” Trump answered. “And you’re right about that. Christians have been persecuted by some countries in particular in the Middle East. And I think this is a big start. It’s going to be a very strong start. It’s going to be a very powerful start. And it’s something I’ve told David [Friedman] and every one of our negotiators. If you look at the way Christians have been treated in some countries, it’s beyond disgraceful.”
The President added that overall US negotiations in the Middle East place an emphasis on the region’s persecuted Christian minorities.
“If I had information and if I had absolute proof,” Trump went on. “Some of the stories we have heard, which is not easy, which is not easy to get, I would go in and do a number to those countries like you wouldn’t believe. What they do to Christians in the Middle East and it’s disgraceful. It’s disgraceful, you’re right. It’s a very big part of the overall negotiation.”
“And as countries come in, for instance, the UAE has agreed very strongly to represent us and I think they will with respect to Christianity – because in the Middle East it’s not treated well,” he concluded. “It’s not treated well at all. It’s treated horribly and very unfairly and it’s criminal what’s happened for so many years. I think it’s a great question and it’s a very unfair situation.”
Watch the full briefing here:
As we’ve previously reported, it’s not only Christian minorities who can count on the Trump administration’s support.
Last month, the administration issued strongly-worded statements condemning the persecution of the Uighurs, a Muslim religious minority in China reportedly being forced into “re-education camps.”
“The United States will not stand idly by as the [Chinese Communist Party] carries out human rights abuses targeting Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, “to include forced labor, arbitrary mass detention, and forced population control, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith.”
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