There are indications that US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet in the White House in mid-July to discuss the eventual Iran agreement and efforts to renew the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The United States, however, has denied this rumor.

According to a source close to Netanyahu who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, as the Iran nuclear agreement deadline approaches, the Israeli government and its premier will continue to fight Obama on it in Congress and in the American public opinion arena. They will continue to depict Obama as naive and weak.

Undoubtedly, Netanyahu would like a more aggressive US president — one who would intervene militarily in Syria and Iran; a president who would not actively seek a two-state solution and who would refrain from criticizing Israel's settlement policy and the occupation of the West Bank. The relationship between the current US administration and the Israeli government is at a historic low.

And yet, in many ways, Obama is perhaps the best ally Israel has ever had in the Oval Office. I actively took part in Israeli-US relationship building alongside former Israeli President Shimon Peres with former US Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. During these periods, Israel had both Likud and Labor prime ministers, yet the bilateral relationships were always very close. There was strong and unconditional defense support as well as intimate policy coordination in relation to the Middle Eastern situation and regional peace processes. This was especially true during the Oslo Accord with President Clinton.