EXAMINER ARTICLES
POLITICS
Trump cancels Israel trip after Netanyahu condemns ban on Muslim entering US
By Bonnie K. Goodman
Examiner.com, December 10, 2015, 12:42 PM MST
One presidential candidate that will be skipping the requisite Israel trip this campaign season is Donald Trump. Trump announced that he is postponing his scheduled Israel trip on Thursday morning, Dec. 10, 2015 on his Twitter account and during an interview on Fox News’ morning show Fox and Friends. Trump’s decision comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure condemned Trump’s plan to ban all Muslims from entering the US if he becomes president. Since Trump and his campaign made the announcement about his proposal on Monday, Dec. 7, he faced a backlash from both Republicans, Democrats and the Obama administration as well as from some world leaders.
Trump first announced his decision to postpone his trip and his meeting with Netanyahu set for Dec. 28 on Twitter. Trump wrote, “I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become president of the U.S.”
On Tuesday morning, Trump also spoke to Fox News where he clarified about his decision to postpone the trip. Trump said, “All I’m doing is postponing it, and I think that was the better alternative.” The GOP frontrunner explained, “I didn’t want to put [Netanyahu] under pressure, number one. I also did it because I’m in the midst of a very powerful campaign that’s going very well, and it was not that easy to do.” Still Trump emphasized his support of Israel, “I have a tremendous amount of support from the people of Israel,” and he declared, “The worst thing that ever happened to Israel is Barack Obama.”
Trump’s postponement announcement comes a day after Netanyahu under pressure from members of the Knesset denounced Trump’s plan. Israeli Prime Minister’s Office released a statement on Wednesday, Dec. 9, which read, “The state of Israel respects all religion and adheres to the rights of all citizens. At the same time, Israel is fighting radical Islam which is attacking Muslims, Christians and Jews alike and threatens the entire world.”
Continuing the statement explained that Netanyahu’s meeting was not an endorsement for Trump, but he meets all US presidential candidates. The statement said, “As for the meeting with Mr. Trump that was set some two weeks ago, the Prime Minister decided earlier this year on a uniform policy to agree to meet with all presidential candidates from either party who visit Israel and ask for a meeting. This policy does not represent an endorsement of any candidate or his or her views. Rather, it is an expression of the importance that Prime Minister Netanyahu attributes to the strong alliance between Israel and the United States.”
Netanyahu was facing pressure from Knesset opposition members. Meretz MK Michal Rozin started a petition on Wednesday morning collected 37 signatures and then presented it to the prime minister. The MK asked Netanyahu to “publicly condemn Trump’s racist remarks and to cancel the planned meeting [with Netanyahu] before he regrets his comments.”
Continuing, Rozin wrote in the petition, “While leaders around the world are condemning the racist and outrageous remarks by the Republican presidential candidate, Netanyahu embraces him warmly. Their meeting at the end of the month lends support to [Trump’s] racist comments, and in this disgraces the democratic character of the State of Israel and hurts its Muslim citizens. Not only opposition members signed the petition, but members of the prime minister’s coalition including, MK Yaacov Margi (Shas) and Roy Volkman (Kulanu).
Members Netanyahu’s Likud Party also criticized Trump’s remarks, but none of them signed the petition according to the Times of Israel. Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi commented, “We should not be the judges and the ethics committee of the Democrats or the Republicans. This is the Americans’ problem, they will choose who they vote for and not us.”While Likud member and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz expressed his opposition, “I recommend fighting terrorist and extremist Islam, but I would not declare a boycott of, ostracism against or war on Muslims in general. We in the state of Israel have many Muslim citizens who are loyal. On the contrary, the extremists and the terrorists should be distinguished from the loyal citizens, and in the United States, too, there are loyal Muslim citizens.”
Trump first announced the trip during a rally in Virginia last week, but was already backtracking his meeting with Netanyahu during a Wednesday interview with CNN’s Don Lemon. Trump did not want to confirm a meeting, saying, “I didn’t say that, no.” Instead, Trump downplayed the visit, “I’m just going to Israel some time before the end of the year, I’m going to Israel, but I’m not saying who I’m meeting with.”
Trump originally suggested his ban on allowing Muslims into the country on Monday, Dec. 7. Trump’s campaign initially issued a statement about his position, saying, “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Trump has been seeing all theGOP and Democratic presidential candidates, the White House, former Vice President Dick Cheney and even foreign leaders including the “British and French Prime Ministers, Canada’s foreign minister, and the United Nations” condemning his highly controversial and unconstitutional proposal.
