Considering how pissed the White House was over Boehner not informing Obama first, you can pretty much guarantee the White House was pressuring Netanyahu to turn down the offer.

(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday he would address the U.S. Congress in March, saying in a statement the invitation tendered by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner was bipartisan.

Blindsiding the Obama administration, Boehner announced the invitation to Netanyahu on Wednesday, drawing White House complaints that protocol had been breached.

Netanyahu is expected to focus in his address, his third to Congress, on the Iranian nuclear issue. In his statement, Netanyahu said he was “honored to accept the invitation” and that would use the speech “to thank President Barack Obama, Congress and the American people for their support of Israel”.

Update: The WH came up with an official excuse, but anyone with half a brain knows this is the result of Obama’s pettiness.

Via The Hill:

President Obama will not meet with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli prime minister’s visit to the United States in March, a White House official said Thursday.

“As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had originally invited Netanyahu to speak early next month, but the Israeli leader asked to push back the address to coincide with his appearance at AIPAC. Netanyahu’s trip to the U.S. will come just two weeks before the Israeli elections.

Aides to Boehner have indicated they expect the Israeli leader to criticize Obama’s efforts to broker a deal to ease sanctions in exchange for ending Iran’s nuclear weapons program in his address to Congress.

Netanyahu has denounced the negotiations in the past, saying Tehran lacks credibility. And the Israeli leader stands to benefit domestically by showing distance from Obama.

The Speaker cast the invitation as a repudiation of the president’s threat to veto legislation that would impose additional sanctions on Iran if they walk away from the nuclear negotiations.