Washington Institute for Near East Policy researcher: Trump wants to offend Muslims

The US new President Donald Trump adopts a pure popular policy aiming at offending Muslims. The immigration ban list could be extended to include other countries at a later stage, Hassan Manimna, a reasercher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Echorouk in an interview.

Is there any legal and moral justification for Trump’s decision to include seven Muslim countries in the travel ban list?

It is  a very pertinent question. Certainly, there is a legal justification as the President has the prerogatives to issue presidential decrees and executive decisions. As for the question about a moral justification, we say that there is none. It is a bad decision. It is meant to offend people.

I say it is for offending and not for safety reasons. It targets an important part of American people: Muslims. We are in front of a popular president. He was popular in his campaign. Now, he continues in the same way.

On which base, were those seven countries targeted? Some countries in the Gulf were not mentioned although they are said to be the source of extremism in the world.

Those countries were selected as they had been mentioned in a previous list. Trump did not say the list is definitive as he pointed out the possibility of including other countries.

 How can those banned countries face this decision?

As for Libya, Syria and Iran, they have the right to respond. Iraq considers itself as America’s friend and ally. 

There is a need for realistic responses. We are talking here about the necessity of doing the same thing. Trump’s decision does not aim at ensuring safety. It is meant to offend Muslims. American civil society should respond along with the Congress, Republicans and Democrats.