Trump and Netanyahu call it off

Donald Trump’s postponement of his trip to Israel in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of him is big news today.

Here’s Donald Trump’s tweet from 7 a.m. this morning:

I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become President of the U.S.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2015

That follows this tweet from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last night:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Muslims. — PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 9, 2015

So Donald Trump did the impossible: managed to make Israel look good! Netanyahu wrote:

The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the rights of all its citizens.

— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 9, 2015

Though the PM was careful to get in a knock at Islam:

At the same time, Israel is fighting against militant Islam that targets Muslims, Christians and Jews alike and threatens the entire world. — PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 9, 2015

Netanyahu also said that he had agreed to meet with Trump because he’ll meet with any US candidate.

Here’s our piece showing that Israeli policies are just as racist as the ones that Trump is proposing re Muslims. Here’s Mairav Zonszein’s piece on the same subject, showing the endorsement by Israeli politicians right and left of policies that explicitly discriminate against Palestinians. Here’s Yousef Munayyer’s observation of the similarity of the politicians’ appeals:

BREAKING: Trump refers to muslims as a “demographic threat” to the country…..oh wait never mind, that’s Netanyahu

— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) December 10, 2015

Here’s Trump’s announcement last week that he would be going to Israel:

Netanyahu is a heroic figure for American Republicans after his outright defiance of Obama on the Iran deal. Here’s Shibley Telhami’s poll this week showing his popularity.

“Please name a national or world leader you admire most?” Benjamin Netanyahu was most frequently mentioned among Evangelical Christians (16%) ahead of Ronald Reagan (11%) and Barack Obama (10%). Among Republicans, Netanyahu ties Ronald Reagan (12%), but only one percent of Democrats select Netanyahu as most admired leader.

[F]avorable views of Netanyahu among Republicans stayed within the margin of error of last year’s results from (51% compared to 49% in 2014) while unfavorable views increased slightly from 9% to 13%

Here’s Trump’s endorsement for Netanyahu in 2013:

I’m a big fan of Israel. You truly have a great prime minister, in Benjamin Netanyahu, there’s nobody like him. He’s a winner, he’s highly respected, he’s highly thought of by all… Vote for Benjamin. Terrific guy. Terrific leader.

Jacob Kornbluh reports on Trump’s claim that Netanyahu reached out to him on that occasion.