Trump cancels trip to Israel
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
reporting from WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has scrubbed his much-ballyhooed trip to Israel, he announced Thursday.
Trump’s visit had become a political problem for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the New York billionaire’s statement calling for a ban on most Muslims entering the U.S. Jewish groups across the political spectrum had criticized Trump’s idea, likening it to efforts by earlier generations of politicians to ban Jews.
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Netanyahu had issued a brief statement earlier this week rejecting Trump’s idea of banning Muslim entry to the U.S. The prime minister has a strained political relationship with Israel’s large Arab Muslim population.
The cancellation was the second foreign visit Trump called off this week. Earlier, he announced he would not be visiting Jordan, a country whose population is overwhelmingly Muslim.
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