White House protests Saudi’s denial of visa to journalist

The White House on Tuesday protested a decision by Saudi Arabia to deny a visa to a Washington-based reporter for an Israeli newspaper who planned to cover President Obama’s trip to the Arab kingdom this week.

The reporter, Michael Wilner, the Washington bureau chief for The Jerusalem Post, was the only White House correspondent rejected by the Saudi government before Mr. Obama’s visit to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Friday and Saturday. The rejection of Mr. Wilner’s visa added another point of tension to a trip already marked by friction over Syria, Iran and Israeli-Palestinian peace.

“We were very disappointed by the Saudi decision,” Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We expressly reached out to the Saudi government through multiple channels when we became aware of this issue. We made it clear how important it was to us that this journalist, like any other journalist, have access to cover the president’s trip. And we’ll continue to raise our concerns with the Saudis about why this journalist was denied a visa and about our very strong objections to their decision.”