Obama Won’t See Netanyahu, But He Doesn’t Hate Israel

Word is circulating that President Obama has refused to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister visits the United Nations next week. The relationship between the two leaders has been strained in recent years, and Netanyahu has expressed disappointment with Obama’s tepid response to the threat of an Iranian nuclear-weapons program.

The White House insists that it is not snubbing Netanyahu, that the President simply is too busy to schedule a meeting with one of America’s closest allies during a time of intense crisis in the Middle East. White House aides say that the President instead will be on the campaign trail.

Some Obama-watchers speculate, however, that Obama nixed a meeting only after he took a look at the long-range weather forecast, and found that perfect golfing weather is expected in the D.C. area next week.

Whatever the reason, there will be no meeting. However, the White House, in what is widely seen as a  gesture of contrition, has prepared a list of other things that Mr. Netanyahu might want to do while he is in the United States.

We have obtained a copy of the list from a source that prefers not to be identified.

The White House has offered Mr. Netanyahu tickets to a festive cornerstone-laying ceremony on Thursday of next week at the mosque being built near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. The event will be hosted by the Muslim Brotherhood. This is considered a must-attend by the more liberal members of the Democratic party in New York.

The next day, Friday, Netanyahu will proceed to Washington, where he will attend a home game at the Washington Nationals baseball park, beginning just after sundown.

In addition to tickets, Netanyahu and his party will receive vouchers for free pork hot dogs, skewered shrimp, catfish-and-chips and milk.

On Saturday the party will proceed to the National Mall, to witness the closing ceremonies at the Holocaust Museum. The museum is closing because Mr. Obama is withdrawing federal support as one of his many budget-cutting measures, and because his Chicago friend Louis Farrakhan has advised him that the Holocaust didn’t really happen.

From there it is back to New York on Sunday, where he will attend a meeting of the entire membership of that city’s Jews for Obama organization. The meeting will be held in a broom closet on the Upper West Side.