JERUSALEM — The teenage pop idol Justin Bieber became embroiled in a diplomatic imbroglio on Tuesday when it emerged that plans for a meeting between the singer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had been called off, with the sides differing over why...



A spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu said that his office had been approached with the idea of a meeting, and that the prime minister had been “open to that.” The prime minister's office then suggested including children from communities in southern Israel that have been under intense rocket fire from Gaza in recent days.



“Sadly,” the spokesman said, “that proved impossible,” suggesting that Mr. Bieber's representatives had turned down the idea of including the children.



But a person involved in arranging the meeting on behalf of Mr. Bieber said that the discussions had been called off for logistical, not political, reasons and that it was more a case of miscommunication than anything else...



A spokesman for Mr. Bieber said, “Justin welcomes the chance to meet with kids facing difficult circumstances, regardless of their background, and in fact, he had already invited children from the Sderot area,” referring to the Israeli town near the Gaza border, to attend his concert in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

NORMALLY when a pop star dips into politics and tries to engage a national leader on important issues, it's the pop star who comes off looking shallow, crass, and manipulative, rather than the leader. I think Bibi Netanyahu may have set some kind of record for petty, grasping cheesiness here (hat tip Jonathan Chait ):

Trying to turn a photo op with a teen idol into a propaganda stunt for the war on Gaza. Nice. Mr Bieber, meanwhile, apparently tweeted that paparazzi, while they have every right to photograph him while eating, ought to refrain from attempting to photograph him at places of worship. Mr Netanyahu, take note: this is what we refer to as "classy".

(Photo credit: AFP)