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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his trip to Washington next week for President Obama's global nuclear summit in the wake of escalating tensions between the two nations over Israel's planned housing expansion in East Jerusalem, Fox News has confirmed.
AP
Mar. 22: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference dinner in Washington.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his trip to Washington next week for President Obama's global nuclear summit in the wake of escalating tensions between the two nations over Israel's planned housing expansion in East Jerusalem, Fox News has confirmed.
But Netanyahu's cancellation reportedly stems from concern about other Middle Eastern countries, not the United States.
The Israeli government is concerned that some countries, particularly Egypt and Turkey, would seek to turn the summit into an anti-Israel event, one person briefed on the change in Netanyahu's plans told the Associated Press, confirming reports in Israeli media.
Instead, Netanyahu will send Dan Meridor, minister for Intelligence Affairs, as the country's representative to the summit.
Netanyahu got a chilly reception at the White House last month after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in East Jerusalem – the section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians.
To add insult to injury, Israel's announcement came during a visit from Vice President Biden. The announcement drew sharp condemnations from Washington and calls to cancel the construction plans – requests that Netanyahu says he will not heed.
Netanyahu met behind closed doors with Obama last month, but the two leaders did not appear in front of the press and no photos were released of the meeting -- an unusual departure from White House tradition.
That led to open speculation over just how testy the meeting was. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs explained that while Obama was clear with Netanyahu about the conciliatory moves Israel must make, there is still an "unbreakable bond between these two countries."
On Tuesday, Gibbs signaled to reporters that Netanyahu may not represent Israel at the summit, which strives to reduce the role of nuclear weapons around the world.
"Israel will be here," he said, adding that he wasn't sure if Netanyahu would be coming. "We will have at that point met with President Sarkozy, President Medvedev and Prime Minister Netanyahu, so we are not meeting separately with those three because we've done so fairly recently."
Fox News' James Rosen and Kelly Chernenkoff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
