Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jumped ship on a planned meeting with President Obama in Washington, D.C., throwing the White House administration into somewhat of a state of shock.
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The White House said the prime minister’s office had proposed two dates for talks with Mr Obama and that one of them worked with the president’s schedule.
Netanyahu had been expected to visit the United States later in March on a trip coinciding with a major pro-Israeli group’s annual summit. When asked for a reason why Netanyahu would cancel a meeting with his country’s most important ally, one Israeli official offered this rationale: “It’s a tumultuous primary season in the United States. we don’t want to inject ourselves into that tumultuous process”.
Last year, the White House accused the Israeli leader of a breach of diplomatic protocol after he arranged to address a joint session of Congress without consulting or notifying the president.
The White House says it had offered an invitation two weeks ago to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a meeting on March 18, but has learned through the media that the visit was off.
Later in the day, Biden, who has visited the Gulf during his trip and plans to travel to Jordan next, was due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
The American man, who was not identified by name, was killed in a stabbing spree in the port city of Jaffa in which a Palestinian attacker also wounded six Israelis before he was shot and killed by Israeli forces. The president cited the Israeli election at the time, saying it would be inappropriate to meet only Netanyahu while he was campaigning against other candidates for a fourth term. Majority were attackers and the rest were killed in clashes, Israel says. This time around, the White House was lowering expectations ahead of the visit, briefing that there were no significant initiatives to top the agenda.
The Israeli Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There was no immediate word from Netanyahu’s office about the cancellation, which also comes as the two close allies are struggling to negotiate a new 10-year, multibillion-dollar defense aid agreement for Israel.
Yet in a sign that negotiations were stuck, Netanyahu suggested at a public cabinet meeting in early February that Israel might decide unilaterally to wait for the next administration to get a better deal. He’s the American version of Bibi Netanyahu.
Issuing a statement in response to anonymously sourced reports is unusual for the White House.
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“Last Friday, during a meeting at the White House, Ambassador Dermer expressed the prime minister’s appreciation for the president’s willingness to meet the PM if he came to Washington to attend AIPAC’s Policy Conference”, the prime minister’s office said on Monday night. Residual bitter grapes from the Iran deal?
