Tel Aviv, April 21 (RHC)-- Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have turned down a request from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to meet during his upcoming visit to the occupied Palestinian territories because of Carter's 'anti-Israeli' stance, a report says.
According to an unnamed Israeli official, both leaders refused to meet Carter following consultations between the Israeli foreign ministry and the national security council of the premier's office, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday.
The foreign ministry urged Rivlin and Netanyahu to refrain from meeting the 90-year-old former U.S. president due to his "anti-Israeli stance" over the last few years, according to the official.
Meanwhile, a top diplomatic official in an interview with Israel's Channel 10 described Carter as "a disaster for Israel," adding that all Israeli leaders should shun the former president.
Carter is purportedly set to travel to the occupied territories sometime in the next 10 days in order to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
During Israel's latest aggression against Gaza in summer 2014, Carter said that there was "no justification in the world for what Israel is doing." He has also called for the removal of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, from the U.S. State Department's list of terror organizations.
