The White has announced that President Barack Obama will not be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his controversial visit on March 3 to speak before Congress, claiming that it is standard operating procedure not to meet heads of state immediately before an election and risk influencing the democratic process.
"The president will not be meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu because of the proximity to the Israeli election, which is just two weeks after his planned address to the US Congress," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a e-mailed statement.