WASHINGTON - Elie Wiesel received a lunch invitation at the White House.
The event is to take place on Tuesday, following the publication of newspaper ads by Wiesel obliquely criticizing the Obama administration for pressuring Israel to end building in eastern Jerusalem.
Wiesel is a Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust memoirist.
A "charm offensive" has been recently launched by the Obama
administration directed at the Jewish community, blanketing Jewish
events with speakers touting close US-Israel ties.
Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the
American Jewish Committee and on Monday both Dennis Ross and Daniel
Shapiro -- two top national security councillors dealing with the
Middle East -- spoke to the Anti-Defamation League.
The campaign comes after two months of tensions sparked by Israel's
announcement in early March of a major eastern Jerusalem building start
during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
Obama is said to strongly value his friendship with Wiesel, inviting
the author to join him last summer when he toured Buchenwald
concentration camp in Germany.
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