The White House's response marks a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama, underscored by the fact that this is the first time Netanyahu will visit the U.S. as prime minister without meeting Obama.
The White House
declined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request on Tuesday to meet
U.S. President Barack Obama during a UN conference in New York at the end of
the month.
An official in
Jerusalem said that the prime minister's office sent the White House a message
stating that although Netanyahu will spend only two and a half days on U.S.
soil, he is interested in meeting Obama and is willing to travel to the
U.S. capital specifically for that purpose. The official added that the
White House rejected the request and said that at this time Obama's schedule
does not allow for a meeting.
The White
House's response marks a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama,
underscored by the fact that this is the first time Netanyahu will visit the
U.S. as prime minister without meeting the president.
Defense Minister
Ehud Barak tried to ease the tension on Tuesday, saying that the differences
between the U.S. and Israel should be ironed out "but behind closed
doors."
"We must
not forget that the U.S. is Israel's most important source of support in terms
of security," he said in a statement.
Earlier on
Tuesday, Netanyahu launched an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S.
government over its stance on the Iranian nuclear program.
"The world
tells Israel 'wait, there's still time'. And I say, 'Wait for what? Wait until
when?' Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before
Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,"
Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday.
"Now if
Iran knows that there is no red line. If Iran knows that there is no deadline,
what will it do? Exactly what it's doing. It's continuing, without any
interference, towards obtaining nuclear weapons capability and from there,
nuclear bombs," he said.
U.S. Department
of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland stressed again on Tuesday that the U.S.
administration doesn't see public discussion of Iranian nuclear program
and red lines as useful. "We don't think it's particularly useful to have
those conversations in public. It doesn't help the process and it doesn't help
the integrity of the diplomacy. To be standing here at the podium parsing the
details of the Iranian nuclear program is not helpful to getting where we want
to go," she said, briefing the media.
Also on Tuesday,
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that if Iran decides to make a nuclear
weapon, the United States would have a little more than a year to act to stop
it."
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