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IPFS News Link • Israel

Obama, Netanyahu meet at the White House

• politico.com

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is back at the White House today for another high-profile meeting between the leaders with a tense relationship, to put it nicely. The New York Times' Peter Baker and Jodi Rudoren set the scene: "For President Obama, it was a day of celebration. He had just signed the most important domestic measure of his presidency, his health care program. So when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrived at the White House for a hastily arranged visit, it was likely not the main thing on his mind.

"To White House officials, it was a show of respect to make time for Mr. Netanyahu on that day back in March 2010. But Mr. Netanyahu did not see it that way. ... 'That wasn't a good way to treat me,' he complained to an American afterward. The tortured relationship between Barack and Bibi, as they call each other, has been a story of crossed signals, misunderstandings, slights perceived and real. Burdened by mistrust, divided by ideology, the leaders of the United States and Israel talked past each other for years until the rupture over Mr. Obama's push for a nuclear agreement with Iran led to the spectacle of Mr. Netanyahu denouncing the president's efforts before a joint meeting of Congress."

 


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