Jordan’s king: Muslims must unite with Jews, Christians to beat IS

King Abdullah II of Jordan said Muslims must unite with Christians and Jews in order to defeat the Islamic State group, which he called a global threat.

“I think the destruction of ISIS should be everybody’s priority,” Abdullah told the Australian Broadcasting Company in an interview aired Wednesday. He branded IS a global threat that cannot be defeated “without the help of Christians and Jews, and other religions and other nations.”

He told ABC: “We’re actually all in the same trench—Muslims, Christians, and Jews against what I keep calling the outlaws of our religion.”

“This thing is not just located in Syria or Iraq,” the king said. “It’s in Libya — we’re dealing with Boko Haram and Shabab, you have the Al Taliban, and actually, in this neck of the woods, you also have your challenges. So unless we look at this in a global, holistic approach, we’re never going to win.”

Turning to the shock election of Donald Trump, Abdullah said he had already spoken to the real estate mogul turned politician. He sought to calm fears over that president-elect, who insisted early in his campaign that he would temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, would create massive upheaval.

“I have had the opportunity to speak to President-elect Donald Trump last week. The synergy was very good in the phone call conversation,” Abdullah said.

“There will be some changes in policy, but I don’t think to the extent that everybody’s panicking about,” he added.

Abdullah and his wife, Queen Rania, are in Australia for a short state visit. The king was due to hold counter-terrorism discussions with Australia’s Attorney-General George Brandis and Justice Minister Michael Keenan.

In October, a US backed coalition of Kurdish, Shiite and Iraqi government forces, began a military campaign to retake the IS stronghold cities of Mosul and Raqqa. Today, Iraqi forces announced that they have surrounded the city of Mosul and have cut IS off from its supply line.