Netanyahu urged by MPs to cancel meeting with 'racist' Trump

Israeli MPs have called on Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a planned meeting with Donald Trump after the Republican presidential hopeful called for all Muslims to be banned from travelling to the United States.

Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday confirmed that Trump was due to meet the Israeli prime minister before the end of the year, but stated the meeting was set up before Trump made explosive comments about banning all Muslims from the US earlier this week.

However, 37 Knesset members have signed a letter urging Netanyahu to condemn Trump's remarks and shelve the meeting, which Trump said would happen before the end of the year.

The Knesset members' letter, drafted by MP Michal Rozin, was mostly signed by opposition politicians from the secular Meretz Party, the Zionist Union camp headed by the Labor Party, as well as the Joint List and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party. 

Two members from the ruling coalition, Yakov Margi of Shas and Roy Folkman of Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu Party, also added their names to the list.

"While leaders around the world condemn [Trump's] racist and outrageous remarks, Netanyahu is warmly embracing him," Meretz’s Rozin said. "Their meeting... backs up [Trump's] racist statements, thus disgracing Israel's democratic character and hurting its Muslim citizens."

Several members of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party have also spoken out, with Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz saying that Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims was harmful.

“I recommend fighting terrorist and extremist Islam, but I would not declare a boycott of, ostracism against or war on Muslims in general,” Steinitz told Israel’s Army Radio.

“We in the state of Israel have many Muslim citizens who are loyal. On the contrary, the extremists and the terrorists should be distinguished from the loyal citizens, and in the United States, too, there are loyal Muslim citizens.”

Netanyahu's office said the prime minister would be willing to meet any of the US presidential candidates.

Trump’s words were issued in response to the San Bernardino attack in which two shooters, who the police now believe had been radicalised at least two years ago, opened fire killing 14 people at a California Christmas party, but has sparked widespread condemnation in the US including from fellow Republicans.

Israel and the Palestinian territories have also seen an upswing in violence in recent months. Since 1 October 113 Palestinians - including alleged attackers - 17 Israelis, one American and one Eritrean have been killed, according to AFP. 

More than a 200,000 people have also signed a petition in the UK, calling for Trump to be denied entry on the grounds that he is promoting hate speech. The petition will now have to be debated in the UK parliament although it is unlikely that a travel ban will be issued.  

Marc Zell, vice-president of Republicans Overseas and a party representative in Israel, called Trump a “demagogue”.

“And we as Jews, and also as Israelis, know what a demagogue is, historically,” Zell told Army Radio in a separate interview, although he stressed that he was making the comments in a personal capacity and that they did not necessarily represent the Republican Party.