US First Lady Melania Trump (R) and Sara Netanyahu talk with children during a visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / POOL / Sebastian Scheiner)
US First Lady Melania Trump on Monday visited a leading Israeli hospital that is also known as a center of coexistence between Arabs and Jews, as a guest of Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mrs. Trump was in Jerusalem with President Donald Trump, who is on a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank.
The women met with a group of young Jewish and Arab patients, some in hospital pajamas, 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, color and read and write letters,” Trump said. Her comments were then translated into Hebrew and Arabic for the children to understand.
US First Lady Melania Trump (L) and Sara Netanyahu pose with children during a visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / POOL / Sebastian Scheiner)
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Like many Israeli hospitals, Hadassah’s Ein Kerem campus is considered a 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.
The hospital also dedicated a bench with both women’s names in honor of their visit.
Mrs. Trump said it’s “beautiful to be here,” but refrained from answering any other questions.
US First Lady Melania Trump (R) and Sara Netanyahu talk with children during a visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / POOL / Sebastian Scheiner)
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