JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, quashing earlier reports that he had been invited to attend.
Netanyahu was not invited to the inauguration in Washington, D.C., and leaders of foreign countries do not usually attend U.S. presidential inaugurations, the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom reported, citing the Prime Minister’s Office.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu canceled his trip scheduled for Jan. 18 to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, leading to further speculation that he might be planning to attend the inauguration.
The Prime Minister’s Office also said in a statement that the cancellation of Netanyahu’s participation in Davos, where he was scheduled to speak and had meetings planned, had nothing to do with a police investigation into possible bribery and fraud charges.
A day after Trump’s election victory in a phone call with Netanyahu, the president-elect invited the prime minister to meet with him in the United States “at the first opportunity.”
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