Bibi has decided to avoid the ambush:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided Thursday to cancel a planned trip to Washington to attend a nuclear summit being hosted by the Obama administration early next week. … “In the last 24 hours, the Israeli government has learned of various reports from various sources on the intention of several states attending the conference not only to deal with the issue at hand, but to take the opportunity to make a point of grand-standing against Israel and the issue of the NPT,” the Israeli official said was the explanation for Netanyahu cancelling his trip, referring to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The only surprise is that it just dawned on the Israelis that this was going to turn into an Israel-bashing confab in which the Jewish state was to be badgered for not signing on to the NPT. (As this report notes, “Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but operates a policy of ‘nuclear ambiguity’, never publicly confirming or denying their existence.”) Perhaps the Israelis were slow to perceive that this summit would raise ideas like the “nuclear free Middle East.” Or perhaps Bibi had heard enough leaks about an Obami plan to impose a peace plan that he’s not about to show up at an Obama-hosted international conference. A healthy skepticism about any forum in which the Obami and their friends from the Muslim World amass is probably in order at this point.