Israel Matzav: Bibi withdraws from Obama's nuke summit

Bibi withdraws from Obama's nuke summit

Kol HaKavod l'Bibi (more power to Bibi).

Prime Minister Netanyahu announced Thursday night that he will not be attending President Obama's nuclear disarmament summit in Washington next week (Hat Tip: Hot Air).

The PM made the decision Thursday after finding out that several Muslim states intend to bring up Israel's failure to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Earlier, the PM's Office issued an official statement announcing the trip.

"In the last 24 hours we received reports about the intention of various states that will be present at the Washington conference to go beyond the issue of preventing nuclear terror," a senior source in Jerusalem said. "These states intend to exploit the occasion in order to slam Israel. The prime minister expressed his displeasure over these intentions, and he will therefore not be traveling to the summit."

"Israel is usually represented by ministers or specialists at international conferences dealing with this subject," the source added.

Minister for Intelligence Affairs Dan Meridor will be representing Israel at the conference instead of Netanyahu along with an expert team.

Over at Hot Air, Allahpundit speculates that the reason may not be what Bibi has stated. The reason might be President Obama's new nuclear posture review, or the story that broke earlier Thursday about the US denying visas to employees of the Dimona nuclear reactor.

I disagree. In this case, the issue is and always was whether Obama was going to change the rules regarding Israel's nuclear ambiguity policy. After the last month of abuse, Netanyahu doesn't trust Obama not to change the rules regardless of how many assurances Obama gives him. Neither do I (and that's just one of several posts over the last two weeks in which I have argued that Bibi should not go). After the nuclear posture review, it's clear where Obama is going on nuclear weapons and it's clear where he would want to drive Bibi.

But the longer term issue here is the lack of trust that Bibi has for Obama. After Obama kept re-fanning the flames over Ramat Shlomo for the last month, and with Wednesday's trial balloon about an imposed settlement, Bibi has no trust for Obama whatsoever.

I don't expect Bibi to spend much time at the White House so long as Obama is the occupant. And I expect Bibi to strike out on his own against Iran and for Obama to be notified only once it's in progress.

Let's see if Obama can take the scorn as well as he dishes it out. Somehow, I doubt it.

Israel Matzav: Bibi withdraws from Obama's nuke summit