Obama won’t meet Netanyahu until Iran nuclear talks end: Report

US President Barack Obama recently told a group of American Jews at the White House he would not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until nuclear negotiations with Iran end. 

Obama told the group last week that a face-to-face meeting in Washington would possibly end with Netanyahu publicly complaining about the president’s policies regarding the Iran nuclear talks, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the private meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Iran and the P5+1 group – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – reached a framework agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program in Switzerland on April 2, as a prelude to reach a final deal by the end of June.

“So for now, the president said, he would speak with the prime minister over the telephone, and an Oval Office invitation would wait until after the June 30 deadline for negotiating the details of the Iran deal,”  the Times reported.

The report said Obama has been meeting with Jewish and pro-Israel figures in the US to publicly reduce tensions with Israel and demonstrate its support for the Zionist regime after weeks of public feuding between Obama and Netanyahu.

The White House is making a concentrated effort to reaffirm the United States’ commitments to Israel despite policy disagreements between the two countries in order to prevent the erosion of the Democrats’ political advantage with Jewish voters.

“We are evaluating our approach to a two-state solution, not our broader relationship with Israel,” said Jen Psaki, Obama’s communications director. “Despite occasional differences on matters of policy, our relationship is strong and enduring, as demonstrated by our unwavering support for Israel’s security.”

However, the report suggests that considerable policy differences, heightened by longstanding distrust, remain between the US president and the Israeli prime minister, making a total public reconciliation unlikely for the time being.

The relationship between Obama and Netanyahu reached a new low last month when Netanyahu opposed the formation of a Palestinian state.

On March 3, Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the Republican-dominated Congress, where he ranted for nearly 40 minutes against the talks between Iran and P5+1 and warned Washington that it was negotiating a “bad deal” with the Islamic Republic.

The invitation to Netanyahu was extended by Republicans without consultation with the White House, drawing angry reaction from the Obama administration, which called it a breach of protocol.

AHT/AGB

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