From Israel to the UK, Backlash Grows Against Donald Trump
— -- From Israel to the United Kingdom, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump drew a fresh series of rebukes from world leaders and citizens alike on Wednesday.
Less than 24-hours after Trump announced an end-of-year trip to Israel, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, made known that he “rejects” the Republican presidential front-runner’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States.
“The State of Israel respects all religions and strictly guarantees the rights of all its citizens. At the same time, Israel is fighting against militant Islam that targets Muslims, Christians and Jews alike and threatens the entire world,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued Wednesday by the prime minister’s office.
Trump on Monday called for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the U.S., and his comments were quickly condemned by the Obama administration, members of Congress and his fellow GOP presidential contenders.
Despite Netanyahu’s statement, an Israeli official confirmed to ABC News that Trump will meet with the Israeli prime minister on Dec. 28 in Jerusalem.
“The Prime Minister decided earlier this year on a uniform policy to agree to meet with all presidential candidates from either party who visit Israel and ask for a meeting,” Netanyahu’s office said in the statement. “This policy does not represent an endorsement of any candidate or his or her views. Rather, it is an expression of the importance that Prime Minister Netanyahu attributes to the strong alliance between Israel and the United States."
Trump tweeted that he is “very much looking forward” to traveling to Israel.
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron labeled Trump’s proposal “divisive, unhelping and quite simply wrong,” according to his official spokeswoman. British citizens responded with a petition calling for Trump to be banned from entering the U.K.
“The U.K. has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech,” the petition states. “The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the U.K.”
The petition titled, “Block Donald J Trump from UK entry,” has gathered nearly 300,000 signatures since it was created Tuesday and the British Parliament will now consider the petition for debate (Parliament considers all petitions that garner more than 100,000 signatures).
Trump tweeted in response to the petitioners:
A Scottish University also responded to Trump’s proposal by revoking his honorary degree. Robert Gordon University in Scotland posted a statement on Facebook Wednesday.
“In 2010 Robert Gordon University awarded an honorary DBA to Mr Donald Trump, in recognition of his achievements as an entrepreneur and businessman,” the post read. “In the course of the current US election campaign, Mr Trump has made a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university. The university has therefore decided to revoke its award of the honorary degree.”
According to a national Scottish newspaper, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also stripped Trump’s status as a business ambassador for the country.
The Scotsman reported that a spokesperson for the Scottish government said: “Mr. Trump’s recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland and the First Minister has decided his membership of the respected GlobalScot business network should be withdrawn with immediate effect.”
Trump still has his golf course in Scotland.
ABC News' Alex Marquardt and John Santucci contributed to this report.
