Islam Times - Britain Apologizes for not Meeting Netanyahu in London, Macron and Merkel Refuse to Meet Him

Britain Apologizes for not Meeting Netanyahu in London, Macron and Merkel Refuse to Meet Him

Islam Times - The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was forced to cancel his visit to London to attend the NATO summit after Britain apologized for not receiving him for logistical reasons, media reported.

The "Channel 13" Hebrew quoted a senior Zionist official that Netanyahu will not visit London on Tuesday, where he was planning to hold a meeting with US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

The visit was canceled after the British government said, according to the source, that it was unable to receive the Israeli prime minister because of his late notification to the United Kingdom of his desire to visit the country, while it had to organize the participation of the leaders of 29 NATO member countries in the summit.

Officials involved in planning Netanyahu's visit confirmed in an interview with Haaretz that the trip was canceled due to "logistical problems", as the Israeli prime minister's team informed the organizers very late.

The newspaper also quoted other sources that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not respond to diplomatic attempts by the Israeli entity to organize a meeting with Netanyahu with them.

This is the second time in recent months that Netanyahu plans a late visit to Britain for a meeting with US officials, which requires appropriate preparations by the British security services, which face an increased threat of terrorism, which last September in London he met with US Secretary of War Mark Esper.

Netanyahu is expected to meet Pompeo later this week in the Portuguese city of Lisbon.