John Boehner: We Did Inform the White House of Netanyahu invite

While the diplomatic storm between the US and Israel regarding PM Netanyahu’s scheduled address to Congress continues, House Speaker John Boehner claims the White house was notified in advance.

PM Netanyahu addresses Congress. (Photo: Avi Ohayon/GPO)

This latest hitch in US-Israeli diplomatic relations is apparently connected to Obama’s reluctance to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli leader’s scheduled visit to the US in March.

Congress invited Netanyahu to address a special session on the Iranian nuclear threat, but the White House claims it was not notified and retaliated by refusing to meet Netanyahu.

However, House Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday night that he had informed Obama about the invitation, notifying him hours before the invitation was made public.

“We gave them a heads up that morning,” Boehner told CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

“There’s nobody in the world who can talk about the threat of radical terrorism — nobody can talk about the threat the Iranians pose, not just to the Middle East and to Israel…. but to the entire world — than Bibi Netanyahu,” he said.

“The president didn’t spend but a few seconds [in his State of the Union address] talking about the threat, the terrorist threat that we as Americans face,” Boehner continued, expressing his concern regarding Obama’s seeming lack of dedication to the issue. “This problem is growing all over the world…. the president is trying to act as though it’s not there, but it is there and it’s going to be a threat to our homeland if we don’t address it in a bigger way.”

President Reuven Rivlin will not meet with President Barack Obama during his visit to New York to address the United Nations Holocaust commemoration.

Over the past few days, there has been contact between the relevant parties in Israel and the US, a spokesman for the president announced, and possibilities of a meeting between Obama and Rivlin were discussed.

Citing “schedule constraints of both leaders,” the presidents will not meet, Rivlin’s spokesman said.

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