Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s anti-Islamic rhetoric, including his call to end all Muslim immigration into the U.S., has not only caused a firestorm of criticism here at home, but abroad in the United Kingdom, Canada, France and the Middle East.
A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, said he “completely disagrees with the comments made by Donald Trump, which are divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong."
London Mayor Boris Johnson, another Conservative, on Wednesday called the businessman “out of his mind” and said he was playing into the so-called Islamic State’s hands.
“When Donald Trump says there are parts of London that are no-go areas, I think he’s betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of president of United States,” Johnson added.
London's Metropolitan Police force echoed Johnson’s remarks, stating that Trump "could not be more wrong" about the city.
Canadian Foreign Minister Stephane Dion also condemned Trump on Tuesday, telling Agence France-Presse that what the business mogul was proposing could never happen in his country.
"It's something that we cannot accept in Canada," Dion said. "We have never been as far [in Canada] from what we've just heard in the United States."
"No political party could approach ... what was said in the United States," he added.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls accused Trump of only spewing hatred, tweeting in French, "Mr. Trump, like others, entertains all combinations of hatred: our ONLY enemy is radical Islam."
Dar al-Ifta, the official religious body of Egypt, slammed Trump's comments as "hate rhetoric."
"Trump's hate rhetoric which describes Muslims as a threat to the American community is totally erroneous since Islam exhorts peace and coexistence among all humans and it is unfair to blame all Muslims for the action of a minority that manipulates the fundamentals of the religion," Dar al-Ifta said in a statement.
In Israel, lawmakers from Meretz, Zionist Union, Joint List and Yesh Atid opposition parties condemned Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric and called to block his planned visit to Jerusalem later this month.
“He is a demagogue. And we as Jews, and also as Israelis, know what a demagogue is, historically,” said Marc Zell, vice president of Republicans Overseas and a party representative in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Trump's remarks in a tweet Wednesday, but will still meet with Trump when he travels to the country at the end of this month.
The Scottish government also discontinued Trump's status as an official business ambassador for the country. A government spokesperson told the BBC that Trump's comments "have shown he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland."
Geert Wilders, head of the hard-line conservative Dutch Party for Freedom, praised Trump in a tweet and said that he hopes he becomes the next president.
Trump continued to defend his proposal on Tuesday, but clarified there would be some exceptions -- including those for Muslim world leaders, and U.S. military members and sports athletes.
“If a person is a Muslim, goes overseas and comes back, they can come back,” Trump said. “They’re a citizen. That’s different.”
This story has been updated with a reaction from Netanyahu.
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