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By Canadian Press

First lady Melania Trump visits leading Israeli hospital

May 22, 2017 | 12:30 PM

JERUSALEM — U.S. first lady Melania Trump on Monday visited a leading Israeli hospital that is also known as a centre of coexistence between Arabs and Jews.

Mrs. Trump was in Jerusalem with President Donald Trump, who is on a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The first lady visited Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Organization as a guest of Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The women met with a group of young Jewish and Arab patients, some in hospital pyjamas, who sat around a table and presented their guests with pictures they had drawn. Children milled about with one swinging on an adjacent swing, as the two woman exchanged pleasantries with the children.

“Hi, how are you?” Trump asked. “What are you doing here? Are you making a project?”

She then turned to a boy with a Mickey Mouse balloon and said “I like your Mickey Mouse.”

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The first lady also handed out White House backpacks stuffed with puzzles, games and toys.

“You can do a lot of projects, colour and read and write letters,” Trump said. Her comments were then translated into Hebrew and Arabic for the children to understand.

Hadassah’s Ein Kerem campus is considered a rare model of co-existence in deeply divided Jerusalem, with a mixed Jewish-Arab medical team working together to treat the city’s wounded and infirm. Even during waves of violence, the hospital prides itself in treating both Palestinian attackers and Jewish victims alike.

The hospital also dedicated a bench with both women’s names in honour of their visit.

Mrs. Trump said it’s “beautiful to be here,” but refrained from answering any other questions.

The Associated Press




by Canadian Press

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