"Obama’s latest comments, take the US president’s hostility against Netanyahu to new heights, and are a major diplomatic faux pas ahead of next week’s Israeli election," writes Nile Gardiner in the Daily Telegraph.
"Barack Obama’s sneering reference to Israel as “a small state”.. will be music to the ears of every enemy of Israel on the face of the earth. This is not a message the president of the United States should be sending to a brave ally that faces a huge range of threats, from Iran’s nuclear programme to a host of terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Hezbollah."
"President Obama claims to be a friend of Israel, but his words and actions strongly suggest otherwise. And as for Israel’s best interests, they are far better defended by Benjamin Netanyahu than the current occupant of the White House," Gardiner concludes.