Netanyahu Races Home, Bails on Obama Meeting

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.)