Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

JNS.org – High-ranking American officials Secretary of State John Kerry and Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power missed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday due to a video conference with President Barack Obama, Breitbart News reported.

“Ambassador Power and Secretary Kerry were unable to attend Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech before the General Assembly because they were called into a meeting with President Obama, which they participated in via video teleconference,” a State Department Official told the website, without revealing the reason for the video conference.

Instead, the U.S. was represented at the speech by Alternate Representative of the U.S. to the U.N. for Special Political Affairs David Pressman, Alternate Representative to the U.N. General Assembly Richard Erdman, and Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, said the official.

During his speech, Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s staunch opposition to the Obama administration-brokered Iran nuclear deal.