Why was Justin Bieber’s Israeli summit called off?

Justin Bieber's meeting with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been called off amid suggestions that the teenage singer resented being pulled into politics.

As reported yesterday by The First Post, Bieber and his manager are said to have asked for the meeting with Netanyahu, a wish granted when the PM's advisers saw they could make use of the pop star to raise awareness of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel from within Gaza.

They requested that Bieber, who is due to play an open air concert in Tel Aviv tomorrow night, should meet a group of children from Sderot, the town close to the Gaza border which suffers regular bombardment from Palestinian militants.

However, a spokesman for Netanyahu told the New York Times that "sadly, that proved impossible". According to the paper, this was for logistical, rather than political, reasons and that no plans had ever been finalised. But other reports have suggested that team Bieber had never approached Netanyahu in the first place.  

Adding to the mystery was a reference to political pressure among a flurry of tweets sent by Bieber yesterday. While complaining of being harassed by the paparazzi, he added a barb directed, perhaps, at a certain Israeli politician.

"I want to see this country and all the places I've dreamed of and whether it's the paps or being pulled into politics it's been frustrating."

Perhaps Bieber, showing a wisdom beyond his 17 years, could see the way things were going and simply didn't want to be drawn into one of the most intractable geopolitical disputes of the past century. ·