Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is postponing what he described Thursday as a “semi-scheduled” trip to Israel, saying he doesn’t want to put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under “pressure” and that he’s got a full plate campaigning for president.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Netanyahu is a “good man.”
“But I didn’t want to put him under pressure,” Mr. Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “He said we have a meeting and he looks forward to the meeting and all of that, but I didn’t want to put him under pressure, number one.”
Mr. Netanyahu’s office had said the prime minister rejects Mr. Trump’s recent comments on Muslims. Mr. Trump has called to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States in light of the San Bernardino terrorist attack.
“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,” Mr. Trump said. “So I would say lots of different reasons. I could have done it. It was semi-scheduled.”
“But I decided I’d really focus on this,” he said. “You know, I was the grand marshal of the Israeli Day parade when it was a very, very tough time for Israel and I have a lot of Israel friends and a lot of support and a lot of friends from Israel, and a tremendous amount of support from the people of Israel.”
“And believe me, I think that the worst thing that ever happened to Israel happens to be Barack Obama, that I can tell you,” he said. “So all I’m doing is postponing it, and I think that was the better alternative.”
Mr. Trump said on Twitter Thursday morning he’s decided to postpone his trip and schedule it “after I become President of the U.S.”
Soon afterward, he tweeted: “The United Kingdom is trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem. Everybody is wise to what is happening, very sad! Be honest.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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