WASHINGTON – Republican Donald Trump has scrapped a planned trip to Israel, saying he will reschedule “at a later date after I become President of the U.S.”

Trump tweeted today that he is postponing the trip, which had become problematic for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Viewed as a Republican Party supporter, Netanyahu faced calls to cancel the visit, planned for Dec. 28, after Trump called for keeping Muslims from entering the U.S. and made controversial comments to a Jewish group.

Trump said there were many reasons he decided to hold off on a trip, among them that he didn’t want to put Netanyahu in a bind. “In fact, I did a campaign ad for him, and he’s a good man, but I didn’t want to put him under pressure,” Trump said.

“You know, he said, ’We have a meeting,’ and he looks forward to the meeting and all of that. But I didn’t want to put him under pressure, No. 1. I also did it because I’m in the midst of a very powerful campaign that’s going very well and it was not that easy to do. So I would say lots of different reasons,” Trump said.

Trump has the GOP in turmoil over his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. following last week’s mass shooting by an Islamic militant couple that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Netanyahu’s office had said in a statement issued Wednesday that he rejects Trump’s comments about Muslims but planned to move forward with the meeting with Trump.