White House reiterates that Netanyahu not invited to White House, will meet Biden ‘somewhere in US’

The Biden administration doubles down on its insistence that US President Joe Biden did not invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet him at the White House after the Israeli premier stated as much in a pair of recent interviews with US media.

“We still anticipate that the president will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu sometime in the latter part of this year in the fall, and [that] it’ll be somewhere in the United States,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says in response to a question on the matter during a phone briefing with reporters.

After the leaders spoke on July 17, Netanyahu’s office issued a readout saying that Biden had invited him to meet in the US. The White House readout made no mention of an invitation and a source familiar with the details, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu was the one who raised the idea of a meeting on the call and that Biden merely responded that he’d be willing to do so but that no further details were discussed.

Officials in Netanyahu’s office then began reaching out to Hebrew media reporters insisting that not only did Biden invite the prime minister but that the president suggested that the meeting take place in the White House.

Netanyahu himself then told ABC on July 27 that Biden invited him to the White House and told NBC last week that he stood by that assertion.