Arab League, Islamic countries call on Trump to reverse entry ban

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League called on Trump to reconsider the 90-day entry ban on nationals from seven Muslim countries. 

Arab and Islamic countries wasted no time over the weekend in condemning US President Donald Trump’s executive order on Friday issuing a temporary, 90-day entry ban on nationals from seven Muslim countries (Syria, Libya, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen) and calling for its reversal.

“Such selective and discriminatory acts will only serve to embolden the radical narratives of extremists and will provide further fuel to the advocates of violence and terrorism,” claimed the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in a statement released to the Associated Press.

The OIC, an organizational bloc of 57 countries, also called for the US to “reconsider this blanket statement and maintain its moral obligation to provide leadership and hope at a time of great uncertainty and unrest in the world.”

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, accused Trump of placing “unjustified restrictions on the entry of citizens of several Arab nations to the US, in addition to the consequences of suspending the acceptance of Syrian refugees.”

Regarding Syria, the only country explicitly mentioned in the executive order, Trump said, “I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP (US Refugee Admissions Program) to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest.”

The Arab League’s Secretary General also called upon the Trump Administration to “review its position because of the negative consequences this could lead to in terms of preserving family unity and the continuation of dialogue between Arab societies and American society.”

The remarks by the OIC and Arab League supplemented condemnations from the United Kingdom and Germany, two traditionally close US allies, on Trump’s executive order.

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News

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