JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has snubbed UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano who is on his first visit to Israel, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), had asked to meet with Netanyahu months ago, but the scheduled meeting was abruptly cancelled last week as the premier planned to go on holiday, the paper said.
It said the meeting had been due to take place on Monday afternoon, shortly after the IAEA chief landed in Israel and a few hours before the premier was due to start his holiday.
The daily cited a diplomat familiar with the visit as saying Amano was told that the meeting had been canceled due to Netanyahu's vacation.
“Netanyahu's decision to cancel his meeting with Amano raised eyebrows on Monday, particularly given the premier's fixation on Iran's nuclear program,” Haaretz said.
Asked about the report, a senior official who asked not to be named said he was “not aware that that is true.”
The visit comes against a backdrop of demands by some IAEA members that Israel, generally considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed power, sign up to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Netanyahu last month secured assurances from U.S. President Barack Obama that a proposed 2012 conference on establishing a nuclear weapons-free Middle East would not single out Israel.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, considered to be the father of Israel's nuclear program, is due to meet Amano in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Amano held talks on Monday with the head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, Shaul Chorev, and was due to tour the Soreq Nuclear Research Centre, whose activities are monitored by the IAEA, Haaretz said.
The IAEC, which invited Amano, and the IAEA did not immediately provide details of the trip.
Photo: International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano
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