Two prominent black Democrats in the House of Representatives are vowing to skip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress next month, a move that a White House insider says was put in motion by the Obama administration.

John Lewis of Georgia and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina both said Friday that they disapproved when House Speaker John Boehner invited the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress on March 3 without consulting President Barack Obama first.

That disapproval apparently was orchestrated, or at least strongly encouraged, by the White House through comamunications with lawmakers connected to the Congressional Black Caucus.

'I'm not saying the president called anyone personally,' a current White House staffer told Daily Mail Online.

'But yeah, the White House sent a message to some at the CBC that they should suddenly be very upset about the speech.'

'BACK CHANNELS': The Obama administration is nudging black Democrats on Capitol Hill away from attending a March 3 address by ISraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a White House aide says

Georgia Rep. John Lewis says he won't attend, but his spokeswoman won't deny that the White House played a part in the decision

Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress in May 2011, and he's coming back in March – but Vice President Joe Biden (left) won't be there

The source said it was a 'back-channel' arrangement that did not involve the higher echelons of the West Wing.

Butterfield's spokeswoman Kezmiché Atterbury denied it on Friday afternoon, saying he 'was not asked by anyone at the White House or otherwise' to skip Netanyahu's planned address.

The North Carolinian is the CBC's chairman. he told the Associated Press that a growing boycott 'is not an organized effort.'

But Lewis's spokeswoman Brenda Jones wouldn't deny it after repeated requests.

'I have no comment for you,' she finally said in an email, adding separately that 'my boss does not speak for the CBC.'

Jones vented in another email, suggesting that journalists were out to get Rep. Lewis.

'Why are they off on this erroneous quest to make more of something than there is(?)' she wrote.

'Don’t you think the public would benefit from more depth about the Obama-Netanyahu relationship or the dynamics of this snub(?)'

And Candace Randle, the CBC's spokeswoman, left open the possibility that the White House could be placing its thumb on the scale.

'I’m unaware of such a request,' Randle said in a brief email, 'and am unable to confirm.'

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest declined to provide new information, referring Daily Mail Online to his comments during a reporters' briefing on Thursday.

President Obama 'does believe it is up to individual members of Congress to make their own decision about whether or not to attend,' Earnest said then.

The White House also said Vice President Joe Biden may not attend Netanyahu's speech, which is expected to focus on Iran's potential to swiftly develop a nuclear weapon.

The New York Times all but confirmed on Friday that Biden will be out of town when the prime minister arrives.

'We are not ready to announce details of his trip yet, and normally our office wouldn’t announce this early,' one official told the Times, 'but the planning process has been underway for a while.'

Biden's office confirmed on Friday that the vice president expects to be abroad on March 3.

No details about his trip have been made available.

North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, and says the White House wasn't behind his decision to slip the Israeli PM's speech, but the CBC's spokeswoman sould only say she was 'unaware' of contacts between the organization and the Obama administration

Josh Earnest, the president's chief spokesman, has insisted that Obama thinks congressmen and woman should make up their own mind, a position that now looks shaky

House Speaker John Boehner (right) is taking heat from Democrats for going around the White House and inviting Netanyahu (left) to speak about the global threat of a nuclear-armed Iran

If Biden is absent, it's likely that Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, would preside along with Boehner, sitting in the vice president's place – provided he attends.

Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement, said Thursday that the speaker's unilateral invitation to Netanyahu was 'an affront to the president and the State Department' that cannot be ignored.

Butterfield, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Thursday he was 'very disappointed that the speaker would cause such a ruckus' among members of Congress. He called the speaker's actions 'unprecedented.'

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told Daily Mail Online that 'support for Israel has always been a bipartisan issue, and it always should be.'