When Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington in March, he will not meet with President Obama nor Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Israeli prime minister accepted an invitation to address Congress in March from House Speaker John Boehner, but will not be received at the White House due to of the proximity of the visit to Israel’s elections, U.S. officials said Thursday.
“As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country,” Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said in an email, according to Reuters.
Israel’s elections are slated for March 17.
Netanyahu is expected to speak about potential new nuclear sanctions on Iran — which lawmakers are threatening to impose — as they would pertain to Israel during his visit, an issue on which he differs with the Obama administration.
“The president has been clear about his opposition to Congress passing new legislation on Iran that could undermine our negotiations and divide the international community,” Meehan added. “The president has had many conversations with the prime minister on this matter, and I am sure they will continue to be in contact on this and other important matters.”
Soon after the White House announced Obama would not meet with Netanyahu, the State Department did the same on behalf of Kerry.
Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu was originally for Feb. 11, but Israel requested to move it to March 3 to coincide with Netanyahu’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference.
This will be Netanyahu’s third address to a joint congressional session and his first since 2011.
