Netanyahu denies telling senator he’s concerned by GOP anti-Muslim rhetoric
Tim Kaine says PM, Turkey’s Erdogan told him in January they were troubled by candidates’ ideas, but Jerusalem says it’s staying out of race
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied a claim by a US senator that the PM expressed concerns over anti-Muslim rhetoric bandied about in the Republican presidential race.
US Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) told a Virginia talk radio show last week that he heard Netanyahu making the comments while on a January trip to the region, BuzzFeed News reported.
“I’m on the Foreign Relations Committee, and so I do spend time abroad visiting our troops,” Kaine said. “I was in the Middle East in January and back-to-back had evening meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel and President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan in Turkey. These guys agree on nothing but they both said to this group of senators, ‘What’s going on in the presidential race?’”
They were “especially” worried about “some of the anti-Muslim rhetoric coming out of some of the candidates because they are societies that are too sectarian,” he said.
“They hope one day to be less, but the only way to get there is if they have an example of a country where people of different religions can live and work together and go to school together and make it work. We’ve been that example for them and they’re very nervous when they see us backsliding,” Kaine claimed.
But Netanyahu’s office denied that he had made the comments in his meeting with Kaine.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is very careful to avoid even the appearance of preference among American presidential candidates,” spokesman David Keyes told The Times of Israel on Sunday.
“In his meeting with Senator Kaine and his colleagues, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not express any opinion about the candidates or any of their positions,” Keyes said.
The incident wasn’t the first time Netanyahu has found himself at the center of the American election-year debate surrounding Donald Trump.
In December, the Republican candidate called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” leading 37 Israeli lawmakers to sign a petition calling on Netanyahu to cancel a planned meeting that month with Trump.
A few days after Trump’s comment, Netanyahu released a statement rejecting Trump’s travel ban for Muslims.
“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’s office said in the statement.
An official in the PMO said Netanyahu would meet with any presidential candidate from any party in the US elections, but added that Netanyahu “does not agree with every comment by every candidate.”
Trump canceled his trip to Israel and called Netanyahu’s comments on his proposal “inappropriate,” but insisted he supported Israel and would visit “as president.”
In 2012, Netanyahu was accused of tacitly backing Republican candidate Mitt Romney against President Barack Obama, a claim the prime minister vociferously denied.
The Times of Israel Community.