Washington – A face-to-face meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not likely in the near future, the president told a group of American Jewish leaders last week.
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At a private meeting at the White House recently, Obama said a one-on-one meeting in Washington would only take place after a looming deadline for negotiations with Iran, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing “people familiar” with the event.
Since such a meeting would likely result in Netanyahu criticizing the Obama administration for its efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, a phone call would suffice “for now,” the president said. “An Oval Office invitation would wait until after the June 30 deadline for negotiating the details of the Iran deal.”
On April 13, Obama held a series of meetings with Jewish groups and leaders, which focused primarily on the Iran talks and a framework agreement achieved this month with world powers in Lausanne.
Strains in relations between Israel and the US flared in March after Netanyahu came to Washington to warn lawmakers about the perils of reaching a deal with Iran. His speech to Congress was arranged without the White House’s knowledge, violating established protocol and sparking outrage in the Obama orbit.
Amid these heightened tensions, Vice President Joe Biden is slated to attend the annual Independence Day celebration at Israel’s embassy in Washington DC on Thursday.
Ron Dermer, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, has said he was pleased to host the vice president at the holiday event marking the 67th anniversary of the creation of the state, hailing it as an opportunity to “reaffirm the great friendship between Israel and the US.”
Hundreds of local leaders, diplomats and Israel supporters are expected to flock to the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, where Biden will give brief remarks. His participation in the festivities, the first for a sitting vice president since Dick Cheney took part in a 2008 event honoring Israel’s 60’s birthday, comes as Dermer, seen as instrumental in setting up Netanyahu’s now-infamous speech before Congress, has raised ire on Capitol Hill.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
I’m not voting for president obama no more
Tnx to our honorable lovely elected president obama for doing the right thing, time to ignore him he made to many problems lately.
This child just can’t calm down!
Listen, if we, USA citizens, chose you as our President – please try to behave like an adult!
(At least for remaining 20 months)
Why is Netanyahu’s speech considered infamous? Most consider it famous except
Obama and his water carriers like the New York Times.
I understand now The Jerusalem Post has turned against Bibi in the last election,
I get it.
I guess Obama must have heard about the assessment of Bibi made by the late great Yitzchak Shamir: “I find Bibi to be a big liar who can’t be trusted on any level.” The fact that Obama doesn’t trust or even like Bibi puts him in good company. Most Israelis don’t like him either, and even many who voted for him did so on the basis that he was the lesser evil. The way Bibi acted on Election Day — going back on his statement of support for a 2-state solution and crying out to his supporters that Arab citizens were “coming out to vote in droves” — showed him to be a panicked politician who’ll say anything for political reasons. He immediately backtracked and apologized for those statements after Election Day. How can you trust anything that comes out of the bloviator’s mouth?
It appears that the rest of the civilized world agrees with Israel re it’s Iranian view – Obama only will speak to Countries that are enemies of the US – what difference does it make if he speaks to him – Obama only listens to the man he sees in the mirror – that says it all.