Earlier this week Benjamin Netanyahu won the election for prime of Israel with a large percentage of the vote. This will be his fourth term as prime minister, and Obama is very unhappy about it. He and the re-elected prime minister have a tumultuous relationship as made evident by their swaying past when dealing with foreign relations. This is especially troubling given the speech Netanyahu gave earlier this month before the US Congress, where he addressed the nuclear ambitions of Iran in a way that further caused a rift between the US and Israel's relationship. Many of his other policies that have recently been addressed seem to be a potential catalyst for problems as well. The prime minister unveiled his new policies on the topic of creating a Palestinian state, saying that he was now opposed to doing so. This came as a shock to Obama and his administration, given that the two bodies of government had previously agreed on this issue in an attempt to create peace in the Middle East. When questioned, the White House press secretary stated that the president was "committed to working very closely with the winner of the ongoing elections to cement and further deepen the strong relationship between the United States and Israel." However, those who were in a position to give a more cynical view point, such as Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary, say that this looks like the beginning of a downward spiral in an already fragile and heated relationship.
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