Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu seems poised to ride again — smack into an American political controversy and seemingly ready to ignore those in Israel urging him not to do so. The Times of Israel reports:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on December 28, amid calls by a growing number of lawmakers to block the GOP front-runner from entering the Knesset or the country.

The meeting was scheduled two weeks ago, prior to Trump’s widely criticized proposal of a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States, sources close to the prime minister said on Wednesday.

“Every presidential candidate that wants to may meet briefly with the prime minister,” sources said, according to an Army Radio report. “Netanyahu does not agree with every statement made by every candidate.”

Leaders cancel meetings with people all the time. Here in the United States, Jewish groups have denounced Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from entering into the U.S.

But, if this statement is any indication, Netanyahu will again make his statement by seeming to endorse a political player in the U.S.

In Israel, both Israeli and Arab legislators are urging him not to meet a politician who many Americans on the right and left are now saying at the very least shows strong fascist tendencies. Some have compared Trump to a man well known in the early to mid 20th century who had a little mustache — and I don’t mean Charlie Chaplin:

Dozens of Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday wrote an urgent letter to Netanyahu asking him to cancel the meeting, Channel 2 reported.

Earlier Wednesday, Meretz legislator Issawi Frej submitted a request with Interior Minister Silvan Shalom seeking to block Trump from entering Israel during his upcoming visit.

“As an Israeli citizen, I ask that the state treat the racism against me in the same way it would relate to racism against Jews. Just as it is obvious that Israel wouldn’t allow an anti-Semite to use it to advance its political goals, so too, should be the case of Trump,” Frej said in a statement.

Trump is “not only a racist, but a danger to the free world,” he added. “He is a man who incites against 20 percent of Israel’s population, a man who wants to fan the flames of hatred everywhere he visits.”

Banning Trump would be “the right step, a moral one,” and would show that Israel “at least in this case, is fighting racism and will not serve as a platform for advancing a racist agenda.”

Two other Israeli opposition lawmakers on Wednesday called on the Knesset speaker to block the GOP candidate from entering Israel’s parliament.

“I asked the Knesset speaker to prevent the neo-Nazi Trump from entering the Knesset, until ‘we understand the dangers of all Trumps,’ though his remarks are not foreign to some in the Knesset,” Joint (Arab) List MK Ahmad Tibi said, paraphrasing the Republican candidate’s comments relating to Muslims.

It’s likely he’ll meet Trump anyway, and that his decision will be hailed as a profile in courage by Rush and Sean and some websites.

But Trump’s plan and tone about Muslims that many people who’ve watched The History Channel feel seems deja vu is being widely condemned internationally.

Canadian politicians have denounced Trump. British Prime Minister David Cameron has called Trump’s call for Muslim ban ‘divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong’ The Washington Post ran an article detailing condemnations from countries all over the world and from the UN refugee agency.

Here in the US, the Huffington Post has finally undid its decision to relegate Trump to the entertainment pages and says it isn’t entertained — and is covering him in politics. Many top Republicans are rejecting Trump’s plan but won’t say they won’t support him if he gets the nomination nod. The Washington Post ran an editorial saying it was time for Republicans to denounce Trump. The Daily Beast’s Editor in Chief John Avlon argues it’s time to choose between the U.S. constitution and Donald Trump. On the other hand, he has picked up some neo-Nazi support.

But I’m betting Netanyahu will meet Trump.

Which won’t do his image — or the image of Israel — any good.

Also, if Netanyahu wants to throw an elbow & nudge Republican primary voters to choose someone electable, gently snubbing Trump could do it.

— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) December 3, 2015

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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