Amid row over Israel and Iran, White House sidestepping AIPAC summit

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State John Kerry are all expected to skip this year's summit of the the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The policy conference, held from March 1-3, has received all three figures in the past. But this year's event comes amidst a polarizing moment: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the group, as well as a joint session of Congress during the same visit, over his concerns with diplomatic efforts with Iran over its nuclear program.

AIPAC supports Netanyahu's position on Iran, where he stands in opposition to Obama and his quest for a comprehensive nuclear accord on America's terms. Obama says world powers have presented Tehran with a proposal that would grant Iran peaceful nuclear power and, eventually, a broader role in the community of nations.

Netanyahu says such a deal will embolden a violent regime, endangering Israel's very existence. He, alongside AIPAC, will lobby against its passage in March.

The White House has not officially announced participation, or lack thereof, in the conference; The administration may still send an assistant-level figure to speak, or else a less visible cabinet-level official, such as Treasury Secretary Jack Lew or Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"It is not unusual for neither the president, nor vice president nor secretary of state not to attend — presidents usually only attend as candidates," an AIPAC official told the Post. Obama addressed the conference in 2012.

"During the Bush years, for instance, the chief of staff and national security advisor spoke," he continued.

The official also noted that the group has yet to receive a reply to its invitation for a member of the administration to speak.

"We often do not hear who the administration representative will be until right before the conference," the official said.

Spokesmen for Biden and Kerry say both men expect to be out of town that week.

Michael Oren, formerly Israel's ambassador to Washington and a figure widely respected by the Obama administration, warned against its protest of the lobby, which he called a "strategic asset" which "must not be harmed."

"Should the American government choose to boycott AIPAC," Oren said, "it will essentially choose to boycott its strategic alliance with Israel."

News of the Obama administration's absence from the conference came amid reports it seeks to actively undermine Netanyahu's visit, scheduled for two weeks before Israel's national elections and under a month before a March 31 deadline for negotiators from the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and Iran to reach a political framework agreement in the nuclear talks.

While those reports appear speculative, administration officials have made no secret of their disapproval of Israel's tactics in its efforts to undermine a "bad deal" with Iran. Last week, US officials said they were withholding details of the negotiations from their Israeli counterparts because they were "cherry-picking" information to leak to the press.

Obama says tensions over Netanyahu's visit concern his upcoming election, more so than policy disagreements. But speaking with American columnist David Ignatius in Israel, Minister of Intelligence Yuval Steinitz noted over two years of consistent friction over substantive differences on the Iran file.

“From the very beginning, we made it clear we had reservations about the goal of the negotiations,” Steinitz told the Washington Post. “We thought the goal should be to get rid of the Iranian nuclear threat, not verify or inspect it.”

In an attempt to force a tougher US stance on Obama's negotiators with Iran, some members of Congress, encouraged by Netanyahu, have considered passing a bill that would trigger sanctions against Iran should negotiations fail. AIPAC supports the bill, which Obama has threatened to veto if it reaches his desk.