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Trump cancels trip to Israel

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.

(Paul Vernon / AP)
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Donald Trump has scrubbed his much-ballyhooed trip to Israel, he announced Thursday.

Trump’s visit had become a political problem for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the New York billionaire’s statement calling for a ban on most Muslims entering the U.S. Jewish groups across the political spectrum had criticized Trump’s idea, likening it to efforts by earlier generations of politicians to ban Jews.

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Netanyahu had issued a brief statement earlier this week rejecting Trump’s idea of banning Muslim entry to the U.S. The prime minister has a strained political relationship with Israel’s large Arab Muslim population.

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The cancellation was the second foreign visit Trump called off this week. Earlier, he announced he would not be visiting Jordan, a country whose population is overwhelmingly Muslim.

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