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Washington, Europe will wait to see if Bibi stays or goes

Until the March 2015 elections in Israel, the United States and Europe will attempt to balance nonintervention and expressing policy positions relevant to the Palestinian issue.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the Israeli army's training base complex near the southern city of Beersheba December 10, 2014. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Rome on Sunday for talks with Netanyahu on developments in Israel and the West Bank, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.  REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS HEADSHOT PROFILE MILITARY) - RTR4HHRE
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A source in the White House National Security Council told Al-Monitor, "The administration is carefully watching the Israeli elections but is committed not to be seen as interfering in them."

The Barack Obama administration's view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is well known. The mutual suspicion between the Oval Office in Washington and the premier's residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem is probably without precedent. Washington would prefer to see a more moderate government in Jerusalem after March 17, but it will keep its preference to itself. Aaron David Miller, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, told Al-Monitor that the mood is one of "ABBB — anybody but Bibi [Netanyahu]."

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