According to media reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his ministers to refrain from visiting the United States due to the delay in sending him an official invitation from the White House to visit Washington.
It was also reported that Netanyahu banned his government ministers from visiting Washington after they expressed interest in traveling to the United States for official meetings with their counterparts in the Biden administration.
And the instructions that Netanyahu has given to his ministers are that “until I go there, no one will,” and the channel indicated that ministers who intend to visit, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will not meet with the US. officials.
A report published by Israel’s Channel 12 said the issue prompted Netanyahu to undertake an overseas tour of European capitals.
According to the channel, even before the administration of US President Joe Biden said that “no US officials, including members of Congress, will meet with Smotrich in light of his inflammatory statements regarding Khawara, the latter received instructions from Netanyahu to abstain.” from official meetings.
The channel quotes an informed source: “The arrival of any of the ministers in the United States will raise the issue of not inviting Netanyahu there, so these are the instructions that the prime minister gave to the ministers, with the exception of Ron Dermer, who works as Netanyahu’s special envoy.”
Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu expected to receive a formal invitation from the White House more than two months after the government was formed, as did former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who took office in June 2021 and visited the White House in August. the same year.
The report called America’s refusal to invite Netanyahu to the White House an “extraordinary event” in the absence of any talks between Tel Aviv and Washington over the matter.
She said that this is very worrying for the Israeli prime minister, who is waiting for an official invitation, which he never received from Washington.
The channel also reported that a specific date for Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the UAE has been discussed in recent weeks and indicated that these procedures have not been finalized at the request of the UAE, which prefers to wait until the end of the month of Ramadan. accept Netanyahu in light of the “embarrassment that the timing of the visit might cause.”
Source: Hebrew media + “Arab 48”