The man knows a setup when he sees one. “UPDATE 4-Netanyahu cancels trip to Obama’s nuclear summit,” by Douglas Hamilton and Dan Williams for
Reuters, April 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):
JERUSALEM, April 9 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned trip to Washington next week for President Barack Obama’s 47-country nuclear security conference.
He made the decision after learning Egypt and Turkey intended to raise the issue of Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal at the meeting, a senior government official said on Friday.
Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, but has never confirmed or denied it. It has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Netanyahu saw Obama at the White House late last month to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But they failed to see eye to eye and bilateral ties remain strained.
“The prime minister has decided to cancel his trip to Washington to attend the nuclear conference next week, after learning that some countries including Egypt and Turkey plan to say Israel must sign the NPT,” the official said….
“This conference is about nuclear terrorism,” Netanyahu told reporters on Wednesday. “And I’m not concerned that anyone will think that Israel is a terrorist regime. Everybody knows a terrorist and rogue regime when they see one, and believe me they see quite a few — around Israel.”…
“Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East and one of our strongest allies anywhere around this globe,” Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, told the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.
“And President Obama is playing a reckless game of continuing down the path of diminishing America’s ties to Israel.”
Indeed.