‘You Can’t Put a Choir Boy’: Trump Praises Syria’s Ex-Jihadi President

President Donald Trump praised Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa — the former leader of the al-Qaeda-backed al-Nusra Front — during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Trump’s comments came after a reporter asked him if he and Netanyahu had “reached a point of understanding regarding Syria.”

The president replied:

We do have an understanding regarding Syria. Now, with Syria, you know, your new president, I respect him, he’s a very strong guy and that’s what you need in Syria. You can’t put a choir boy, you can’t put somebody that’s a perfect person, everything’s nice, no problems in life. You have the opposite there, he’s a strong guy. We get along with him great. I can’t ask for any more, he’s been with us all the way. We had that mishap with ISIS, and he was with us all the way, he was fighting-, you know, he was fighting them. So I hope Israel-, I’m sure that Israel and him will get along. I will try and make it so that they do get along. I think they will.

Trump then turned the floor over to Netanyahu, who said:

Yeah, well, our interest is to have a peaceful border with Syria. Our interest is to have, and we openly say it, we want to make sure that the border area right next to our border is safe, we don’t have terrorists, we don’t have attacks. And we also want to secure our Druze friends. And by the way, I think not only the Druze, but other minorities, especially the Christians should be protected as well in Syria, and throughout the Middle East. And in Nigeria, when your efforts we back completely because Christian communities are beleaguered around the world, and especially in the Middle Eas.t but in parts of Africa, too. And we stand for the same thing.

Israel has repeatedly intervened in Syria — especially on behalf of its Druze religious minority — since al-Sharaa’s rise to power.

Watch above via Fox News.