By Isaac Davis
Speaking at the high-profile Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, president of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made comments directly to Mr. Trump and Saudi King Salman, which in effect call out Saudi Arabia and the United States for supporting international terrorism and contributing to its proliferation. A fact that is extremely relevant under the completion of another massive arms deal between the two nations.
His translated comments, as presented before President Trump and Saudi King Salman at the summit, are transcribed below:
Comprehensive counter terrorism means confronting all terrorist organizations without differentiation. It is not possible to reduce the confrontation to a terrorist organization or two. Who provides terrorists with media and financial support is a partner in their crimes. The criminal is not only the militant, but also those who finance, train and arm them. And provides them with political and ideological cover.
Let me ask you frankly: Where are the safe havens to train these terrorists? And medical treatment of injured terrorists? The replacement of military equipment and militants? Who buys from them the natural materials that they control, such as the oil? Who colludes with them in trading archaeological monuments and drugs, from where they get financial support? And how do they get media support by media outlets acting as mouthpieces of the terrorist organizations?
Anyone who does this is a genuine partner in terrorism. Unfortunately, there are countries that have been involved in supporting and financing terrorist organizations, and providing safe havens for them. There are also countries that refuse to provide intelligence information and database on foreign fighters, even with INTERPOL. ~Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
El-Sisi is not alone with his subtly veiled allegations that terrorism would not be possible without the material and financial support of Western nations and Middle East super powers. Ron Paul has pointed this out, and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has even introduced legislation to stop funding terrorist organizations such as ISIS.
Russian President Putin has also said as much in public, outing ISIS’s G20 financiers, yet astoundingly the message does not seem to have gone mainstream, and Western media still maintains that ISIS is an organic phenomenon.
Some of President Trump’s comments at the summit are a signal that nothing will change, as he is still framing this issue in the simplest of terms, good vs. evil, without giving heed to the full breadth of the complicated story of how international terrorism was created and is sustained by the major geo-political players today.
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