We have seen how Trump is not popular in England
and that a petition to keep the notorious demagogue out is gaining
traction there. But it turns out Trump also plans to visit Israel and
the Temple Mount, and some in Israel are equally unhappy at the
prospect.
The Jerusalem Post reports that
“Republican US Pretender candidate and real estate moron Trump is strongly considering a visit to the Temple Mount when he comes
to Israel for the first time at the end of the month.”
Trump announced the visit on December 2 at a rally in Virginia by saying that,
“Very soon I’m going to Israel. I’m going to be meeting with
[Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu who’s a great guy…I love Israel and will
support it whole-heartedly.”
Maybe Trump should enter politics in Israel, and leave us alone. Like
most Republicans, he seems to favor allowing Israel to dictate
America’s foreign policy, indicating that both Obama and Kerry have
“sold Israel out.”
During his visit, on December 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
plans to meet with Trump. To be fair, he has expressed a willingness to
meet with any presidential candidate who visits Israel, and the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency points out that
“The meeting was scheduled two weeks ago, before Trump’s comments this
week calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.”
According to a source close to Netanyahu, the prime minister “does not agree with every statement by every candidate.”
Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On of the left-wing
Meretz party has stated that Netanyahu should not go forward with the meeting, calling it a “slap in the face to Muslim citizens of Israel.”
“It is embarrassing that Netanyahu is willing to legitimize Trump
as a reasonable candidate who is worth a meeting with a head of state.
Netanyahu’s willingness to meet with Trump despite his serious racist
statements authorizes what the prime minister’s statements showed about
him long ago: That there has never been such a racist, irresponsible
prime minister.”
There is a petition circulating among members of the Israeli Knesset,
begun by Meretz’s Michal Rosin, asking Netanyahu to cancel his meeting
with Trump, and MK Omer Bar-Lev of the center-left
Zionist Union tweeted that,
“As far as it depends on me, this racist Trump should not be welcome in the Knesset.”
According to
Haaretz,
the petition “was primarily signed by opposition lawmakers from Meretz,
Zionist Union, Joint List and Yesh Atid – as well as two coalition MKs –
Yakov Margi of Shas and Roy Folkman of Kulanu.”
Kulanu is a centrist party, while
Shas is an ultra-orthodox party.
The reaction from Joint-List, an alliance of Arab-dominated political parties, is even more strident in its rejection of Trump:
MK Ahmed Tibi of Joint List tweeted that, “I asked [Knesset Speaker
Yuli Edelstein” to ban neo-Nazi Trump and all Trumps from entering [the]
Knesset, though his statements are not strange to some racists in [the]
Knesset.”
Arabs make up about one-fifth of the population of Israel.
MK Essawi Frej of Meretz went so far as to request,
reports The Jerusalem Post, “that Interior Minister Silvan Shalom ban Trump from entering the country.”
Frej
told an Israeli radio station,
“Imagine that a country or a candidate would say entrance to Jews
is forbidden, the whole world would stand up in protest, saying this is
a racist anti-Semite. A racist like this has no place here among us.”
Trump has become a political hot potato not only here in the
U.S. but overseas as well, as a result of his hateful rhetoric. Jewish
groups in the U.S., including the ADL, the The American Jewish
Committee, J Street, and the National Jewish Democratic Council,
have already slammed Trump for his announcement that Muslims should be denied the right to immigrate to the U.S.
Trump makes his own trouble as he goes, though he always
presents himself as the hero of the piece, and it’s ultimately tragic
victim.
Foreign Policy‘s Rula Jebrael, a foreign policy analyst, has
correctly addressed
“the dangers of letting Trump set the national dialogue,” and if
the media won’t do anything to curtail his vile rhetoric, then people
and politicians must be the conscience of the nation – whatever nation
that might be.
The White House has correctly pointed out that neither Trump, nor any
of those candidates who support him, are qualified to serve as
president, and Trump seems determined to put the exclamation point on
that statement. Unfortunately for him, he is not the only one capable to
doing so, as justifiably outraged people England and Israel have
demonstrated.
Trump has already cancelled his 'visit' anyway.
