White House: Obama trip to Israel ‘not on the books for this year’
By APWednesday, July 7, 2010
Don’t expect Obama trip to Israel any time soon
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama left the impression he had accepted an invitation to visit Israel, but don’t expect the trip any time soon.
During Obama’s relationship-patching meetings at the White House on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader publicly asked the president and first lady Michelle Obama to come. Netanyahu said, “It’s about time.”
Obama replied that he looked forward to it.
But on Wednesday, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that a trip is, as he put it, “not on the books for this year.” Noting that Obama visited Israel as a candidate, Gibbs didn’t commit to when — or whether — a return trip would happen.
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