Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara enjoy a quiet moment together.

In the midst of negotiating a 10-year security agreement with Israel and icy tensions that only started to thaw in November of last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a March 18 visit with US President Obama.

Learning of the cancellation first from Israeli media, which appeared to blame Obama for not fitting Netanyahu into his schedule, the White House stated, “We were looking forward to hosting the bilateral meeting, …  Reports that we were not able to accommodate the prime minister’s schedule are false.”

Pundits jumped on the story calling it a “snub” and an “outrage.”  Raphael Ahren at The Times of Israel called the cancellation “unprecedented.”

“When an American president invites you, you have to go,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, however, said yesterday that “there’s no reason to consider this a snub.”  He then advised Netanyahu that “it’s just good manners” to notify the White House directly about a change in plans, adding, “I’m merely suggesting that if they weren’t able to make the meeting, they should have just told us before they told a reporter.”

Netanyahu also cancelled his visit to the annual policy conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby group, being held March 20–22 in Washington DC. 

Candidates from both parties of the 2016 US presidential election are slated to be there and requested to meet with Netanyahu.

To avoid the appearance of intervening or siding with any candidate, official word from the PM’s bureau is that he decided to address the conferees by video instead of in person.  (Haaretz)

While Netanyahu is not planning to meet with Obama (who is not up for re-election), he is meeting today with US Vice President Joe Biden in Israel before the VP travels to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.