The relationship between Israel’s Prime Minister and US President Barack Obama seems to have turned frosty again after Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a visit to Washington.
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By Monday evening, Netanyahu appeared to be in damage control mode, with unnamed aides saying that he had chose to cancel his trip to Washington due to concerns over appearing to influence the US presidential election, rather than because of a snub from the White House.
As far as the Obama administration is concerned, Netanyahu wanted a meeting with the president on either March 17 or 18, and the White House was happy to oblige, extending an invitation to the prime minister for a March 18 meeting with the president.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not visit Washington to meet with President Barack Obama or address the annual AIPAC conference.
The episode was just the latest sign of frosty relations between the two leaders on the eve of US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel.
Tensions between the Obama administration and Netanyahu’s government especially increased following last year’s nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 powers (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States plus Germany). Price said those suggestions were false.
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.
A further escalation of terror is feared Wednesday when he arrives in Jerusalem to call on President Reuven Rivlin and hold talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
In Jerusalem on Tuesday, a 50-year-old Palestinian woman who tried to stab Israeli police officers was shot dead, a police spokeswoman said. He said that the timing for a move has not yet been determined either, adding that Obama wants to put the Israeli-Palestinian issue on a more promising track before his successor takes office in January.
Despite differences, Washington still provides Israel with military aid amounting to US$3 billion annually, although the current deal expires in 2018.
In 2012, Netanyahu hosted then-Republican contender Mitt Romney in Israel in what many Democrats saw as a bid to undercut Obama’s run for a 2nd term in office.
Biden also discussed the fight against Islamic State with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as efforts to resolve conflicts in Yemen and Libya. The United States pays about 20 percent of Israel’s total military budget.
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The White House said on Friday that Biden would not be pursuing any major new peace initiatives during his visit.
