Netanyahu cancels plans to attend Davos, reason unclear

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday canceled plans to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, later this month.

A statement from Netanyahu’s office announcing the cancellation gave no reason for the schedule change.

This year’s summit is scheduled for January 17-20, and will coincide with the inauguration of American President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump’s White House transition team has reportedly been “aggressively” pursuing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the inauguration ceremony in Washington, DC, later this month, the New York Post reported earlier this month.

“There’s a plan for Trump to meet with Netanyahu,” a source close to the transition team told the paper. “They’re talking all the time. And Netanyahu is talking about possibly going to the inauguration.”

Netanyahu was also reported to have cancel his meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the sidelines of Davos over the UK’s support of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement building in the West Bank in December.

The prime minister’s office later denied that any meeting was planned, but the deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, told The Times of Israel there had been plans for a sit-down between the two leaders.

Netanyahu did however promise to take diplomatic measures against the 14 of the 15 member states of the Security Council who voted in favor of the “shameful” Resolution 2334. In a break from its usual practice of shielding its Middle East ally, the US abstained from the December 23 vote, allowing the resolution to pass.

In the wake of the resolution’s passing, Israel downgraded ties with the countries that voted in favor and called in their ambassadors on Christmas Day for a dressing-down.

Netanyahu suspended about $6 million in funding to various UN agencies, and vowed to take “additional” measures to punish states that supported the resolution.

In recent weeks the prime minister has been the subject of two police investigations for corruption, involving expensive gifts from wealthy benefactors and an alleged quid pro quo deal with the publisher of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Police questioned Netanyahu under caution twice last week over both cases.

The prime minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has insisted Netanyahu has done nothing remotely illegal.