Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he is postponing his scheduled trip to Israel and his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a tweet he said : “I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with Netanyahu at a later date after I become President of the U.S.’’

Trump also said he is in “the midst of a very powerful campaign that’s going very well, and it was not that easy to do … I could have done it, it was semi-scheduled.”

The Republican frontrunner, who has drawn criticism for a proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, was scheduled to meet with Netanyahu on December 28 in Jerusalem.

Several members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, had objected to Trump’s visit because of his proposal and called on Netanyahu to cancel his meeting until Trump retracts his comments.

Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday defended the scheduled meeting as being in line with a policy of agreeing to meetings with presidential candidates. It said the trip was arranged two weeks ago, prior to Trump’s controversial comments.

The statement made clear that, “Prime Minister Netanyahu rejects Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Muslims.” It added that, “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.”