Breaking: White House denies it has refused Israeli PM Netanyahu's request for a meeting

[Tx4obama]

Breaking NewsVerified ‏@BreakingNews

White House denies it has refused Israeli PM Netanyahu's request for a meeting; says travel schedules conflict - @reuters

http://twitter.com/BreakingNews/status/245607105057402882

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. This comment will no doubt result in a jury; but ...

I am sick of nations attempting to force U.S. policy.

IMHO, Israel is under an existential threat; but one that cannot be resolved militarily and certainly not by openly attempting to get the big boy on the block to allow/bless their throwing the first punch.

Okay, just my thought ... hide away!

[Laurian]

2. I totally agree with you.

By the way, hasn't Netanyahu been disrespectful to President Obama in the past? Why should the President drop everything to meet with him at a moment's notice?

[frazzled]

14. No fan of Netanyahu, by a long shot, but ...

Are you saying that no foreign leaders should be allowed to visit the White House? Indian Prime Minister, British Prime Minister, French President, etc.? Because whenever a foreign leader comes, they come to try to influence some aspect of US policy, be it trade, military, etc.

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. Not that's not at all what I am saying ...

I'm saying I'm sick of nations trying to FORCE U.S. policy.

[frazzled]

16. Agreed ...

But let's hope and remember that Obama has a strong backbone.

[monmouth]

3. I wonder if Adelson put Netanyahu up to it, just to make the President look bad...I put

nothing past the repubs...

[onenote]

4. I don't know what the President has on his schedule, but dropping it to meet with Netanyahu would be

Last edited Tue Sep 11, 2012, 05:45 PM - Edit history (1)

a good move. And not merely because supporters of Israel are an important Democratic voting constituency. As President Obama stated during his convention speech "I am the President." And it is good at times during a campaign for an incumbent president to make clear that he's not just a candidate for reelection -- he is still the current President and he is putting that job first. So when the head of the government of a country that is a key player in what may be the most volatile region of the world is in the US, you make time to sit down with him. And I'd say the same thing if it was Mohamed Morsi, the President of Egypt, that was seeking a meeting.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Even if you know ...

what his is going to say ... something that you have already answered, several times over?

What would it benefit you, or better US, politically or optically, to meet with someone, when you know that meeting will result in you having to officially tell that person "NO."

[onenote]

6. Politically it shows him being President. Not just a candidate for President.

And that is a powerful advantage he has over romney and he should use it from time to time. I don't know what the President has on his schedule, but if its campaigning, it would be a savvy move to postpone the campaign trip in order to meet with a foreign leader...pretty much any foreign leader.

[Tx4obama]

8. White House meetings take planning in advance. Besides ...

Netanyahu will only be in town for the UN meeting for something like 24 hours or so.

So, it looks like Netanyahu himself didn't even plan anytime to meet with President Obama.

[onenote]

9. Then the right way to do this is to make it clear that the President was willing to meet

but that Netanyahu was unable to accomodate the President's schedule. (There obviously is a lot of confusion over what has been going on here, since there have been reports that Netanhyahu was going to be in the US for 2 and a half days. Its clear that the folks at Ha'aretz, who have their own agenda, want to make the President look bad. The key is to turn their effort back on them).

[Tx4obama]

12. Yes and on FoxNews they were pushing it as Obama refused to meet with him.

It's all just a way to make President Obama look bad while ignoring the facts.

[Tx4obama]

13. The media is running with the 'refused' lie

U.S. President Barack Obama Refuses Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Meeting

-snip

An Israeli official said the White House had refused Netanyahu's request to meet Obama when the Israeli leader visits the United States to attend the U.N. General Assembly, telling the Israelis "the president's schedule will not permit that."

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor denied Netanyahu's request had been spurned, insisting instead that the two leaders were attending the General Assembly on different days and would not be in New York at the same time.

Netanyahu has had a strained relationship with Obama, but they have met on all but one of his U.S trips since 2009. The president was on a foreign visit when the prime minister came to the United States in November 2010.

-snip-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/obama-netanyahu-meeting_n_1874814.html

The front page HuffPo headline reads: Obama Refuses Netanyahu Meeting


So the media is going to SPIN this story to make Obama the bad guy

[bpj62]

7. Bomb Bomb Iran

Poor Bibi he knows that this is not 1980 when the Israelis could just fly their planes through other countries airspace and get away with it. We now have bases all over Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Bahrain and Qatar and you know damn well that if the Israelis strike Iran it is us who will get hit first. What amazes me about Israel is that they would not exist without our recognition of them in 1948 yet they seem to think that they can dictate to us how we must act in the middle east. I have always supported the Israelis but thus guy is getting dangerous.

[flamingdem]

10. Is this a way to kiss up to the GOP, Israel Lobby and Mitt candidacy?

And create leverage for later

He's unable to favor the GOP but he can pull maneuvers

[lunatica]

11. I knew it!

I remember how so many fell for every rumor out there about the latest outrage that Obama had committed. Even some people on DU would fall for it and there would ensue a horrible fight among DUers only to have it all be untrue.