Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will not attend the inauguration of incoming US President Donald Trump on January 20, Channel 20 reported.
The New York Post reported ten days ago that the Trump transition team had sought to invite Prime Minister Netanyahu to the event in Washington DC, and that they hoped Trump and Netanyahu would meet during the Prime Minister's visit to the US.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) stated today that Netanyahu would not attend the inauguration despite the invitation. According to the PMO, Netanyahu's decision not to attend the ceremony has nothing to do with the current investigation against him.
Yesterday Netanyahu cancelled his trip to the annual summit of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The move fueled speculation that Netanyahu was clearing his schedule to make room to attend Trump's inauguration. However, The PMO stated that the reason for the cancellation of the trip was that the summit overlapped with the upcoming Paris peace conference, which Israeli officials fear will be used to force a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict on Israel or even as the basis for another anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council.