Trump facing more flak as Israelis voice dismay
His call for a US ban on Muslims draws heavy fire
APLANNED visit to Israel by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump drew a welter of criticism from across the Israeli political spectrum yesterday over his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.
The prime minister’s office would not confirm that Benjamin Netanyahu would host Trump, but the Israeli media said a meeting had been scheduled for December 28.
Sources were quoted as saying the event was agreed before Trump’s remarks on Monday, and that Netanyahu “does not agree with everything said by every candidate”.
Foreign notables generally get the red-carpet treatment in Israel. For those running for high office, this can mean more votes at home.
With Israel and the US being close allies, and the right-wing Netanyahu seen as aligned with the Republicans, Trump may hope his visit will bolster his for- eign policy credentials ahead of the US election in November 2016.
Playing to US fears about radical Islam after the California gun rampage, Trump has shrugged off domestic and international outrage at his comments. He said on Twitter he was “very much looking forward” to visiting Israel by year’s end.
Israeli politicians of various stripes condemned Trump’s remarks and said the visit should be blocked.
Ahmad Tibi, a lawmaker from Israel’s 20 percent Arab minority, said he had asked for the “neo-Nazi” not to be admitted to the parliament.
That call was echoed by Omer Bar-Lev of the main centre-left opposition party, the Zionist Union, who on Twitter deemed the real-estate billionaire-turned-Republican candidate a racist.
The censure was joined by Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party. Yuval Steinitz, a senior Likud lawmaker and Netanyahu confidant, described Trump’s rhetoric as harmful from an Israeli and US standpoint.
“I recommend fighting ter- rorist and extremist Islam, but I would not declare a boycott of, ostracism against, or war on Muslims in general,” Steinitz told Israel’s Army Radio.
“We in the state of Israel have many Muslim citizens who are loyal,” he said. “On the contrary, the extremists and the terrorists should be distinguished from the loyal citizens, and in the US, too, there are loyal Muslim citizens.”
Marc Zell, vice-president of Republicans Overseas and a party representative in Israel, had harsh words for Trump.
“He is a demagogue. And we as Jews, and also as Israelis, know what a demogogue is, historically,” Zell told Army Radio.
“The Republican Party has a long list of candidates worthy of the presidency, and we have to change the leadership in the White House, which has caused a lot of damage, but Donald Trump is not the answer,” Zell said.
There was no immediate response to Trump’s plans from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who was visiting Washington and scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama yesterday.