WASHINGTON — Benjamin Netanyahu’s decisive election victory likely dashes any prospect for a thaw in the tense and tumultuous relationship between President Barack Obama and the Israeli leader.
Moreover, Netanyahu’s campaign tack to the right, particularly his rejection of Palestinian statehood, will further complicate pursuit of a peace by Obama and his successor.
If Netanyahu holds firm to his opposition to a two-state resolution to the Mideast conflict, it could force whoever sits in the Oval Office to choose between the prime minister and a longstanding U.S. policy with bipartisan support.
On Wednesday, the White House reaffirmed its support for the idea of two independent nations living side by side, a central tenant of peace negotiations led by presidents from both U.S. political parties. And the White House chastised Netanyahu’s party for using anti-Arab rhetoric in the lead-up to the election.
“Rhetoric that seeks to marginalize one segment of their population is deeply concerning and it is divisive,” said Obama spokesman Josh Earnest.
Republican presidential hopefuls welcomed Netanyahu’s victory, though they were silent about whether they backed Palestinian statehood.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz praised Netanyahu for overcoming “powerful forces” that tried to undermine him, including “the full weight of the Obama political team.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Twitter called Netanyahu a “true leader who will continue to keep Israel strong and secure.”
Bush’s brother, former President George W. Bush, made a two-state solution a cornerstone of his efforts to secure peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Obama also has pursued Palestinian statehood, most aggressively in a months-long push for peace that collapsed last year.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner if she enters the 2016 campaign, did not comment on the Israeli elections Wednesday.
Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East adviser to secretaries of state from both parties, said it was unlikely a U.S. president of either party would abandon support for Palestinian statehood in the near future.
“I suspect it is the fate of both Democratic and Republican presidents to be caught in a situation in which a two-state solution is too difficult to implement on the one hand and yet too difficult to abandon on the other,” said Miller, now a scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington.
