Barack and Bibi are at it again. This time, the bone of contention is who told whom about Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to nix a coveted visit to the US capital.
Sources in the Israeli prime minister’s office initially claimed that no appropriate time slot for a meeting was found ahead of the annual meeting of the American-Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC,) that Netanyahu was scheduled to address.
But an angry Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council, retorted that Netanyahu was offered a meeting with Obama on March 18. “We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting, and we were surprised to first learn via media reports that the Prime Minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit,” he said. “Reports that we were not able to accommodate the Prime Minister’s schedule are false.”
The Prime Minister’s office then let it be known that Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, informed the White House last week that “there is a good chance the prime minister would not be coming to DC.”
The spat erupted on the very day Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to land in the United States and mere days after a visit from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford concluded a visit to Israel.