Netanyahu Races Home, Bails on Obama Meeting

Israeli PM confronts fallout from deadly raid
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted May 31, 2010 2:20 PM CDT
Netanyahu Races Home, Bails on Obama Meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poses with PM Stephen Harper of Canada following their meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, May 31, 2010.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Adrian Wyld)

Benjamin Netanyahu has cut short a visit to Canada and canceled a planned meeting with President Obama to return to Israel in the wake of this morning's deadly raid on aid-laden ships bound for Gaza. The Israeli PM "realized that he had to be there in order to manage the fallout," a source tells the Washington Post of the commando action, which has drawn international condemnation.

Obama and Netanyahu did speak by phone, but the cancellation of the meeting—personally arranged by Rahm Emanuel during a family visit to Israel—is another setback in their administrations' often contentious dealings. The White House chief of staff had invited Netanyahu to "a work meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbors."
(More Israel stories.)

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