Donald Trump will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he heads to Israel at the end of the month, according to reports.
The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post both reported Wednesday that Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, and Netanyahu will meet on Dec. 28.
Prior to the end of the year, I will be traveling to Israel. I am very much looking forward to it.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2015
“Prior to the end of the year, I will be traveling to Israel. I am very much looking forward to it,” Trump tweeted Tuesday night, following an Associated Press report that he would also be meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah on the same trip. Trump said he would not be meeting with Abdullah, despite having “great respect” for the Jordanian leader.
The meeting with Netanyahu was scheduled two weeks ago, prior to Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States, according to sources. Israel was telling its own reporters that the meeting doesn’t indicate agreement with Trump’s position.
“Every presidential candidate that wants to may meet briefly with the prime minister,” sources said, according to the Times of Israel. “Netanyahu does not agree with every statement made by every candidate.”
An Israeli television station also reported that dozens of Israeli lawmakers wrote a letter to Netanyahu urging him to cancel the meeting.
And Meretz legislator Issawi Frej submitted a request with Interior Minister Silvan Shalom seeking to block Trump from entering Israel during his upcoming trip.
“As an Israeli citizen, I ask that the state treat the racism against me in the same way it would relate to racism against Jews. Just as it is obvious that Israel wouldn’t allow an anti-Semite to use it to advance its political goals, so too, should be the case of Trump,” Frej said in a statement.
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said Israel has “a longstanding tradition of host candidates from both parties.” He pointed to visits by Barack Obama in 2008 and by Mitt Romney in 2012.
“At the same time,” he added, “it’s important for leaders of a country close to 20 percent of whose population is Muslim to stand up and say that we distinguish between radical violent Islam and the faith that inspires millions not just here but internationally.”
