WASHINGTON — The deep freeze in Washington will continue at least until March 3, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address Congress amid a deepening rift the Obama White House.

Netanyahu's coming speech to what might be a half-full House chamber -- if big numbers of Democrats skip it -- was prompted by a now-infamous invitation from US House Speaker John Boehner. He did not talk to the president or White House officials before extending the invitation.

As president of the Senate, the vice president typically attends addresses to a joint session of Congress, either by the US president or heads of other countries. Not this time, as Vice President Joe Biden won't even be in the United States when Netanyahu ascends the House dias.

Team UK's Gemma Dacey celebrates her silver medal in the prone SH1 air rifle category during the shooting events at the 2015 Warrior Games aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., on Friday, June 26, 2015. (Mike Morones/Military Times)

And if a US-Israel watcher was looking for signs the Obama-Netanyahu relationship is thawing during this week's White House summit on extremism, they found little evidence.

Take the White House's statement on national security advisor Susan Rice's one-on-one meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Yossi Cohen.

Three sentences. Three terse sentences. The first merely repeated the title of the statement. So two sentences. Two terse sentences.

Here it is:

"Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on National Security Advisor Susan E.Rice's Meeting with Israeli National Security Advisor Yossi Cohen

National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice met today with her Israeli counterpart, National Security Advisor Yossi Cohen, at the White House. They discussed a range of issues of mutual concern, including Iran's nuclear program, the U.S.-Israel bilateral relationship, and Israeli-Palestinian relations. The national security advisors agreed to continue close consultations on these and other issues."

Then there's this piece, from Washington Post columnist David Ignatius:

"The public rift between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Iranian nuclear issue is often described as a personality dispute. But a senior Israeli official argued this week that the break has been building for more than two years and reflects a deep disagreement about how best to limit the threat of a rising Iran."

Ignatius, a former foreign correspondent, sat down in Tel Aviv with Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister of intelligence, who oversees Netanyahu's Iran policy.

Steinitz told Ignatius senior Israeli officials have concluded Obama would settle for a deal with Iran that Tel Aviv views as too dangerous.

Here's Ignatius on how and when the relationship moved from chilly to frozen:

"Netanyahu's skepticism reached a tipping point last month when he concluded that the United States had offered so many concessions to Iran that any deal reached would be bad for Israel. He broke with Obama, first in a private phone call Jan. 12, and then in his public acceptance of an offer by GOP House Speaker John Boehner to address Congress on March 3 and, in effect, lobby against the deal."

Steinitz went on to say his government was "angry that they weren't informed and insulted that the United States would think they wouldn't find out through their intelligence channels" when the Obama administration began secret talks with Iran in 2012.

Israeli leaders believe Obama is seeking a deal that asks Iran to freeze its nuclear arms program for a decade, betting that new leadership would take over -- and doubling down that the new regime would be more willing to go nukes-free.

Ignatius sums up Isreali leaders' assessment of Obama's alleged aims this way: "But that won't work for Israel.

Here's what the intel chief had to say, including a walk-off quote that summaries Israeli officials' biggest worry about an Iranian nuclear deal that shows how wide is the chasm between Washington and Tel Aviv:

"To believe that in the next decade there will be a democratic change in leadership and that Iran won't threaten the U.S. or Israel anymore, I think this is too speculative. … Iran is part of the problem and not part of the solution — unless you think Iran dominating the Middle East is the solution."

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