Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. (Ecclesiastes 5:4)

After canceling a scheduled speech at the Knesset, French president Francois Hollande has been banned from the Israeli parliament by Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein, according to The Times of Israel.

Edelstein told French authorities that he would not meet with Francois Hollande in the Knesset, as planned, and that in the future visiting French ministers would not be invited to official Knesset events or meetings with MKs, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported Wednesday.

Hollande, who is scheduled to arrive in Israel in three weeks, was given a special honor of being invited to address the Knesset plenum and speak with Edelstein however, French authorities notified Edelstein that Hollande had decided to forgo the Knesset speech in favor of a public address to be made at a university, either in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

Edelstein said Wednesday that it was the French who had initially requested the opportunity to address the Knesset in the first place, a fact that made their about-face even more egregious.

“The Israeli MKs deserve to hear what the French president has to say,” Edelstein told Army Radio.

He clarified in the Army Radio interview that individual MKs and lobbies could always invite French officials of their own accord. The leader of a foreign nation of the caliber of France, making an official visit to the Knesset, is usually given the red carpet treatment.

This is not the first time the Israeli parliament has been forgone. When US President Barack Obama visited the Holy Land in March he too chose not to address the Knesset.