Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress last March at the behest of then Speaker Boehner.
During his visit, the White House declined to schedule a meeting between the two leaders, saying the Israelis broke protocol by not consulting with the administration before traveling to the U.S. capital.
It was an unprecedented move, forbidden by the U.S. Constitution.
There is one key job, however, that the founding fathers assigned to the president alone. The Constitution says that the president “shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers” from foreign governments.
Netanyahu rebuked the administration over the Iran Nuclear Deal, which he still sternly rejects.
This year, Netanyahu himself requested a meeting between himself and President Obama. This meeting would have followed V.P. Biden's trip which began today to Israel to 'patch things up' between our countries. Biden will be offering billions in military aid, so that will help mend fences rather nicely, as it always does.
The disrespect Bibi Netanyahu has shown to this administration is reminiscent of the Republican Party's unimaginable impudence for the leader of the Executive Branch. This abrupt change of plans should come as no surprise after Bibi's antics last year. CNN reports:
An aide to Obama said that Netanyahu's office had requested a sit-down between the two leaders on March 17 or 18, and that the White House responded two weeks ago offering March 18 as a meeting date. That's just ahead of Obama's planned trip to Cuba.
"We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting, and we were surprised to first learn via media reports that the Prime Minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit," said National Security Council spokesman Ned Price. "Reports that we were not able to accommodate the Prime Minister's schedule are false."
Obama and Netanyahu did meet in November. During brief remarks during their session, Obama acknowledged their rocky past over Iran.
"It is no secret that the Prime Minister and I have had a strong disagreement on this narrow issue, but we don't have a disagreement on the need to make sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon and we don't have a disagreement about the importance of us blunting destabilizing activities that Iran may be taking," he said.
Only the bellicose foreign policy of the Republican Party seems to align with Bibi's quest for war with Iran. Therefore, it doesn't matter that we share a similar position on thwarting Iran's nuclear capabilities, President Obama will be portrayed negatively by most media accounts. The Israeli delegation has yet to provide an official reason for the trip cancellation.
No matter, because it seems we will still provide our Middle East ally with ample military aid, while the GOP pretends that we are denying them desperately needed monies. The Obama Administration has done nothing to jeopardize Israel's national security, but that fact will never be mentioned by our 'liberal' media. Apparently, the MSM's job is not to objectively report facts, but to perpetuate the myth that this president is anti-Israel.
