Rejecting the use of peoples’ dignity as an election tool
LIBYA – Aref Ali Nayed, head of the Ihya Libya Movement, has sent a letter to US President Donald Trump, dated Sunday 25 October 2026, through the US Chargé d’Affaires to Libya, Jeremy Berndt, voicing his strong protest at Trump’s recent campaign remarks. Nayed said the remarks disparaged Libya and other nations, stressing that the dignity of entire peoples must never become a means of winning votes.
Libya’s history and its relations with the United States since 1786
In the letter, titled “Protest against derogatory remarks concerning Libya”, Nayed stressed that Libya’s history spans millennia of civilisation, scholarship, commerce and spiritual life, noting that its relations with the United States date back to America’s founding generation. He cited 1786, when Tripoli’s ambassador in London, Sidi Haji Abd al-Rahman, held direct talks with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, stressing that the hardships Libya is going through today neither erase its history nor diminish the humanity of its people.
Libyans’ sacrifices in the fight against Al-Qaeda and ISIS
He noted that Libyans fought and gave their lives confronting Al-Qaeda, its affiliates and ISIS, and that they drove ISIS out of Benghazi, Derna, Sirte and other towns in Libya’s south. He said Trump’s remarks dishonour those sacrifices and undermine the trust essential to confronting terrorism.
His academic experience in the United States
Nayed said he had studied in Iowa City, in the US state of Iowa, and had for decades taken part in academic and theological dialogues with American scholars, theologians and students of all faiths, including meetings at Georgetown University, George Mason University, the University of Virginia, Yale University and Princeton University.
He said he knew the decency of the American people, voicing his belief that the citizens to whom Trump appeals would reject the degradation of other peoples and countries, and that they deserve leadership that addresses their daily needs and future hopes without cultivating contempt.
Call to withdraw the characterisations and affirm peoples’ dignity
The head of the Ihya Libya Movement described the rhetoric he was protesting as unjust and counterproductive, saying it alienates friends, weakens counter-terrorism cooperation and hands extremists grievances they can exploit. He urged Trump to withdraw these characterisations and affirm the dignity of the peoples he had disparaged.
Nayed closed his letter with a prayer that God guide the American people to wise choices that restore effective checks and balances and advance just and fair policies towards the rest of humanity.
