Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that the White House declined, Tuesday, an Israeli request to arrange a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and American President, Barack Obama, this month.Netanyahu will be heading to the United States this month to deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu’s office sent a letter to the White House stating that Netanyahu is interested in meeting Obama during his short trip to the U.S; Netanyahu will be in the United States for less than three days.
The letter indicated that Netanyahu is willing to fly to Washington to meet Obama at the White House, but officials in the Obama Administration rejected the request and said that Obama’s agenda is overloaded and does not allow for such a meeting.
Haaretz said that the White House response to Netanyahu is an indication to a further deterioration to the “crises between Washington and Tel Aviv since the two took office as this will be the first time that the Israeli Prime Minister visits the United States without holding a meeting with its president.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu strongly denounced the U.S. Administration for its stances regarding “Iran and its nuclear agenda”, and said that “those who refuse to place Red Lines in front of Iran’s nuclear agenda do not have the right to place front lines in front of Israel”.
Netanyahu said that the International Community wants Tel Aviv to wait, “but wait for what, Iran is so close to manufacturing a nuclear bomb”, and added that “if Iran realizes that there are no red lines, it will do what it is doing right now, and will develop a nuclear bomb”.
Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, stated on Tuesday evening that Israel and the United States must resolve their differences regarding the Iranian file “behind closed doors”, and added that “nobody should forget that the United States is the biggest security supporter to Israel”.
Barak added that Israel “reserves its right to act, but should never forget the importance of its partnership with the United States, and must avoid harming this partnership”.
