At the conclusion of a long, exhausting and beleaguered campaign, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present his fourth government to the Knesset early next week. He will hope and pray that the Knesset will give him a vote of confidence. If, indeed, his fragile, narrow majority (61 Knesset members out of 120) passes the confidence vote, the government could hit the road. Numerous tasks wait for this government, and a considerable number of urgent problems need immediate treatment. Since October 2014, Israel has been running on autopilot without proper management: without a budget, without fully active ministers and without a steady, focused hand on the governmental rudder. On his way to victory in the polls, Netanyahu endangered many Israeli national interests. These include relations with the United States, domestic relations with Israeli Arabs and the state’s international image. Now the time has come to mend the fences.

The most urgent issue of all is that of relations with the United States. Since the elections on March 17, quite a number of US officials have visited Israel, including active members of Congress and former high-level officers of the administration. A summary of the conversations by these visitors with their Israeli hosts brings to light painful observations on the future of bilateral relations between Israel and the country that is perceived as Israel’s greatest ally, the United States.

“The personal relations between Netanyahu and [US President Barack] Obama have soured beyond repair,” a US source who is an expert on the topic said this week, in regard to the talks he held here with Israeli colleagues. “There is no chance to patch things up or turn the clock back. President Obama knows that Netanyahu has long since wiped him off the map. Netanyahu knows that President Obama knows, and both of them yearn for the day that one of them finishes his term of office. Most probably, it will happen first to Obama,” the US visitor said. This diagnosis was shared by almost everyone who was asked questions on the subject in recent weeks. “It is a poisonous relationship,” another US source said. “The two don’t believe each other, don’t care about each other and express no interest at all in changing the situation or believing that it can be changed.”

Note of caution: In politics in general, and in Middle East politics in specific, the rule is, “never say never.” Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who only yesterday sat with Netanyahu and was viewed as Netanyahu’s ally, stormed Netanyahu May 11 with a pitchfork and called him a liar and a cheater in full view of the Knesset cameras. However, that will not prevent Liberman from returning to cooperate with Netanyahu in his fifth government (in another six months or two years), if he decides that such a move suits his political interests.