Trump says he will visit Israel “soon”
Published May 12, 2016
Donald Trump delivering a speech about his vision for foreign policy at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., April 27, 2016. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Donald Trump said he would visit Israel soon.
“I’ll be there soon,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Israel Hayom in an interview posted Wednesday, when asked about reports he would visit the country.
The real estate magnate did not say whether he would visit before the Nov. 8 election. An email to the campaign spokesman, Hope Hicks, was unanswered.
Trump planned to visit in December, but cancelled after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the candidate’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
In the Israel Hayom interview, Trump dodged a question about whether the United States would continue subsidizing defense assistance to Israel, saying only, “we are going to protect Israel.”
Trump has said Israel should pay for U.S. defense assistance. Israel and the United States are currently negotiating an extension of the agreement under which the United States gives Israel $3 billion annually in defense assistance.
Israel Hayom is a free newspaper owned by Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate who has said he will back Trump in the November election.
