The US first lady Melania Trump, Like her predecessor Michelle Obama, waived the legal requirement to wear hijab, a full-length robe and headscarf, in public as she accompanied Trump at his visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Donald Trump in 2015 posted a tweet on his official account saying Obama's wife has insulted then Saudi Arabia's rulers by eschewing to cover her head as is the Muslim country’s tradition.
However, not only the American First lady did not wear headscarf but also she was greeted King Salman and other top officials from the Al Saud with handshakes while Saudi men do not traditionally acknowledge women in public.
Nevertheless, Melania Trump's decision to ignore Saudi Arabia's religious code that governs the wearing of the hijab is not unprecedented as many female foreign dignitaries visiting Saudi Arabia have already done it.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also shunned head coverings during visits this year, showing how flexible Saudi rulers are in the face of high-level female visitors.
Indeed, while Saudi rulers are Wahhabi, extremist branch of Islam that is also adopted by terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, they easily let high-profile foreign ladies to skip wearing a headscarf or an abaya, the loose-fitting black robe, when it comes to serving their dynasty's interests.
Saudi rulers have also already proved that they were ready to put aside their so-called values to fulfill their interests.
While establishing ties with Israeli regime, that all Muslim nations consider as occupiers of Palestinian lands, is a redline for Islamic countries, Wall Street Journal has recently revealed that Saudi Arabia has offered Tel Aviv to neutralize relations if the latter restart the so-called Middle East peace process.
While Palestinian resistance movements have reiterated continued resistance to liberate Palestinian territories occupied by the Israeli regime 69 years ago, their oil-rich so-called brother compiled proposal to take unprecedented steps toward normalization with occupying Israeli regime only if the entity in turn makes gestures to the Palestinians, such as freezing settlement construction in parts of the occupied West Bank and easing trade restrictions in the besieged Gaza Strip that is crushing under Tel Aviv's 10-year all-out blockade.
It seem that in addition to Saudi rulers, their businessman guest is also completely apt to shift his stances if he deems necessary.
Donald Trump who has already taken many bitter anti-Saudi stances has chosen the Persian Gulf kingdom as his first foreign trip.
In 2014, the American real estate mogul declared that the country’s oil should be free to the US, otherwise they shouldn’t be allowed to have the protection of private Boeing 747s. He also argued that the US should stop fighting their wars and charge them trillions to protect the country.
Trump also vacillated between hating his predecessor for being too friendly to the Saudis and not being friendly enough. During the 2012 election, Trump alleged the Saudis illegally gave campaign contributions to former President Barack Obama, a claim that was never verified and for which he provided no evidence. He then attacked Obama’s leadership saying that the Saudi King refused to meet with Obama despite the U.S. sending billions in aid. “Great leadership!” Trump exclaimed.
He has blamed Saudi regime for supporting ISIS and its rulers for being coward.
But know he is hugging his Saudi partners with aim of sealing one of the largest arms sales deals in US history - $98bn to $128bn worth of arms. That could add up to $350bn over ten years
The deal will be what the Washington Post said is a “cornerstone” of the proposal encouraging the Gulf states to form its own alliance like the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) military alliance, dubbed “Arab Nato."
The arms deals is set to be inked while the US is already blabbed by human rights organizations and group for supporting Saudi regime in its deadly aggression against Yemen.
Riyadh war, launched late in March 2015, has so far killed over 12,000 Yemenis and infected heavy tolls to the infrastructures of most impoverished Arab nation.
Amnesty International has recently censured the US and UK for their “shameful” weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia, saying Washington and London were fueling the serious human rights violations and war crimes in Yemen committed by Riyadh.
Amnesty said the US and UK have sold over $5 billion worth of weapons to the Riyadh regime since the onset of the war, more than 10 times the $450 million they have allegedly spent to help save Yemeni civilians.
Saudi Arabia has conducted at least 58 “unlawful airstrikes” since the start of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen “with direct military support from the US and assistance from the UK,” according to a report in October by Human Rights Watch.
Despite spending billions of dollars on the full-scale war, however, Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its pre-determined goals.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/6680
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