Israelis are relieved that Republican presidential Donald Trump canceled a scheduled trip to Israel, and a reported visit to the Temple Mount, former Foreign Minister Knesset Member Tzipi Livni said Tuesday.
“I am glad, I would say, that Donald Trump didn’t come to visit the Temple Mount,” Livni, co-leader of Israel’s main opposition party – the Zionist Union, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during an interview Tuesday afternoon. “This is the last thing that we need today – something that can really ignite the region by entering and putting the Temple Mount the focus in our region.”
While stating that “the last thing I want to do is to comment on different candidates running for the presidency of the United States,” Livni indirectly criticized Trump’s plan to ban the entry of all Muslims. “Not all the Muslims are terrorists and not all the Arabs are terrorists,” she stressed. “And by saying that all the Muslims are the same, it affects the possibility of the U.S. to work with the Arab world” against radical Islamists.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he “absolutely did not” ask Trump to cancel his trip to Israel.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.