This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/22/obama-declines-meet-netanyahu-during-march-visit-white-house

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Obama declines to meet Netanyahu during March visit, White House says Obama declines to meet Netanyahu during March visit, White House says
(about 2 hours later)
President Obama will not meet with Binyamin Netanyahu during the Israeli Prime Minister’s March visit to Washington, the White House has said. Relations between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu neared a new low on Thursday as the White House revealed the president would not meet the Israeli prime minister when he visits Republican leaders of Congress in March.
The US decision was highly unusual because visiting leaders from Israel are almost always afforded talks with the American president. Obama administration officials insisted the reason for the apparent diplomatic snub was “long-standing practice and principle” that US presidents should not meet foreign leaders during re-election campaigns.
Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said the reason Obama was withholding an invitation for Oval Office talks with Netanyahu was to “avoid the appearance” of trying to influence Israeli elections later that month. “Accordingly, the president will not be meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu because of the proximity to the Israeli election, which is just two weeks after his planned address to the US Congress,” national security council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.
The announcement comes as leader of the House Democrats said that Republican Speaker John Boehner blundered when he invited Netanyahu to address Congress amid sensitive negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program and in the shadow of Israel’s elections. But the White House decision arrived as strains with the Israeli government burst into the open following an invitation from Republican House speaker John Boehner, who asked Netanyahu to discuss their shared concerns over Obama’s nuclear talks with Iran before a combined session of Congress.
“If that’s the purpose of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit two weeks before his own election, right in the midst of our negotiations, I just don’t think it’s appropriate and helpful,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday at her weekly press conference. The 3 March speech, Pelosi suggested, could give Netanyahu a political boost in elections a few weeks later and inflame international talks aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear program. “If that’s the purpose of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit two weeks before his own election, right in the midst of our negotiations, I just don’t think it’s appropriate and helpful,” said Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House minority leader.
“These negotiations have gone on for a long time,” Pelosi added. “They’re delicate.” The brewing standoff also stood in stark contrast to a White House visit by British prime minister David Cameron, who is also running for re-election but appeared alongside Obama last week as they both warned of the dangers should Congress pass new sanctions authorisation that they insist could derail the Iran talks.
She spoke as Netanyahu accepted Boehner’s invitation, saying the speech will give him the chance to “thank President Barack Obama, Congress and the American people for their support of Israel.” The UK elections on 7 May are eight weeks further afield than the Israeli elections, and Cameron also visited Washington two month earlier than Netanyahu’s planned trip. But the British prime minister’s official state visit to Washington was still widely interpreted as a boost to his electoral prospects back home.
Shortly before Netanyahu’s formal acceptance of the invitation, Israel’s Mossad intelligence chief publicly closed ranks with the right-wing prime minister – denying in a rare press statement reports that he opposed further sanctions on Iran while world powers negotiate with the Islamic Republic on limits to its disputed nuclear programme. Cameron also admitted to calling senators directly during his stay, urging them not to vote for proposed legislation that would authorise fresh economic sanctions on Iran if nuclear talks fail but the White House argues will cause them to fail and risk war instead.
Netanyahu has long faced opposition from Israeli security chiefs to unilateral military action against Iran; they fear it could lead to protracted conflict and severe damage to Israel. Such open lobbying of Congress by foreign leaders over pending legislation is frowned upon in Washington. But Cameron’s talks may have helped spur Republicans to finalise the Netanyahu invitation in order to make quite the opposite argument – that a stiffer response to Iran’s threatened nuclear weapons potential is necessary as diplomatic deterrence.
The Israeli Prime Minister is in a tough fight to win re-election. Netanyahu’s Likud Party is running behind the main opposition group headed by Yitzhak Herzog’s Labor Party, which has been highlighting rancor in the country’s critical relationship with the United States. The Israeli prime minister is also not the only foreign ally to have sided with Republicans over foreign policy in recent days.
The White House bristled at Boehner’s move as a breach of protocol because he did not first consult the Obama administration. Boehner has said he doesn’t think he’s “poking anyone in the eye.” Netanyahu has cool relations with the White House but broad support in the Republican-controlled Congress. Former British leader Tony Blair recently spoke to a Republican leadership retreat in Pennsylvania, urging a stronger western response to the rise of Islamic extremism.
The issue put the barely-sworn-in House and Senate at odds with Obama, who has vowed to veto any new legislation to impose sanctions on Iran. Obama argues that doing so could jeopardize ongoing negotiations and heighten the risk of a military showdown. But a pending vote in the Senate over authorising future sanctions against Iran poses a much more significant risk for the White House, particularly since a number of hawkish Democrats are also behind the legislation.
But Boehner is not backing down. He told a private meeting of GOP lawmakers that Congress would pursue further penalties against Iran despite Obama’s warning. Boehner said his invitation to speak before Congress had been sent “on behalf of the bipartisan leadership of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate”. Netanyahu is expected to discuss both the threat from Iran and islamic extremism.
“He expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran,” Boehner said. “We’re going to do no such thing.”
Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader would also attend the March 1-3 annual policy conference in Washington of the prominent pro-Israel AIPAC lobby.