Israelis sighed in relief upon hearing of Donald Trump’s postponement of a scheduled trip to Israel on December 28th, since they were worried that his trip would further ignite a holy war between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East, WH Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday.

During the daily press briefing at the WH, Earnest said, “At this point I would say that most people are relieved that he reconsidered. He’s obviously a private citizen, so he can travel anywhere that he wants, under U.S. law. But the situation in Israel is particularly volatile. So, I think in this case, his decision to reconsider that trip is a good outcome.”

In a tweet on Thursday morning, Trump announced, “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..”

The unfolding came after Netanyahu rejected Trump’s comments following pressure to cancel his meeting with the Republican presidential frontrunner.

On Wednesday, Jeb Bush, during an appearance in New York, claimed that “Netanyahu is freaking out” from everything Trump has been saying post his proposed trip to Israel, since it “puts Israel in a very paralysis position.”

However, Trump insisted that the reason for the cancellation of the scheduled trip to Israel was because of the intensity of the presidential campaign, not because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly rejected his call to bar the entry of Muslims into the United States. “He disagrees with me. I doubt he actually does,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “I just decided I wanted to wait. I’m in the midst of a very powerful campaign.”

“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,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” program. “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. I would say lots of different reasons, I could have done it, it was semi-scheduled.”