Within hours after President Barack Obama turned down Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's request to meet on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly gathering in New York, White House officials were working on damage control for Obama's re-election campaign.
By late Tuesday, the White House made sure media outlets were fully informed the two leaders had spent “an hour-long phone call” discussing the Iranian nuclear threat. The call, framed as “part of their ongoing consultations,” nevertheless was unplanned and clearly was a response to the instant coverage of Obama's rejection of Israel's “greatest ally.”
It did nothing to hide Obama's cold response to Israel's routine request for a meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly gathering. It will be the first time an Israeli head of state will attend the gathering, in fact, without meeting with an American counterpart.
The White House attempted to spin the matter with a denial that any formal offer for a meeting had been made:
"Contrary to reports in the press, there was never a request for Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with President Obama in Washington, or was a request for a meeting ever denied,” the statement read.
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