Trump scraps planned trip to Israel

Trump’s comments were already stirring debate in Israel even before he announced plans to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there on December 28, sending objections to the next level.

“There’s nobody like him, he’s a victor”, Trump said ahead of 2013 elections that saw Netanyahu win another stint as prime minister – as he did again this year.

On Wednesday’s Netanyahu’s office put out a statement in which the prime minister said he rejected Trump’s proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the U.S.

“I didn’t want to put him under pressure”, Trump told Fox News.

“I also did it because I’m in the midst of a very powerful campaign that’s going very well and it (the trip) was not that easy to do”, Trump added.

“It is embarrassing that Netanyahu is willing to legitimize Trump as a reasonable candidate who is worth a meeting with a head of state”, Gal- On said.

Israeli Arab parliamentarian Issawi Frej, of the dovish Meretz party, asked the interior minister not to let Trump in the country.

Trump set off an uproar by calling for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the USA following last week’s mass shooting by a husband-and-wife pair of Islamic militants that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. “What represents us is the Israeli reality in which a very large minority of Muslim citizens is at nearly all levels of life like non-Muslims”.

“Imagine that a country or a candidate would say entrance to Jews is forbidden”.

The Israeli leader, whose conservative worldview tends to be in sync with the Republicans on many issues, was widely perceived as endorsing Mitt Romney during a visit to Israel in the 2012 election, contributing to what has become a strained relationship with President Barack Obama.

Mr Trump confirmed the postponement in an interview on Fox News. “At the same time, Israel is fighting radical Islam which is attacking Muslims, Christians and Jews alike and threatens the entire world”. “Yet to receive him without condemning his recent prejudicial remarks about Muslims would have been unconscionable for the Jewish state and its 20 percent Muslim minority”, said Oren, who now serves in Netanyahu’s government as a lawmaker for the Kulanu party.

Despite denials from British politicians and police, Trump has stood by his comments, tweeting on Thursday that “The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem. I would say lots of different reasons, I could have done it, it was semi-scheduled”.

“It’s going to be a tough game to play, and I don’t know how Netanyahu is going to handle it”, he said.