British-Israeli tensions came to the fore on Friday when Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, not known for his sympathy for Israel, canceled a planned joint press conference with visiting Foreign Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu angered the British with his criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair for having recently hosted both Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and a delegation of PA leaders. The Israeli diplomat said that the events gave legitimacy to terror-sponsoring regimes and the existing PA leadership, respectively. Blair refused to meet with Netanyahu, despite having done so in a pleasant atmosphere when the latter was Prime Minister, saying that Foreign Ministers meet each other and not with Prime Ministers. The snub was magnified by reports that Labor Party leader and Prime Ministerial-hopeful Amram Mitzna was invited to meet with Blair next week.