US-Israel relations remain in crisis. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting in the Oval Office on Nov. 9 seemed like an encounter of a divorced couple discussing their common future. The complete and mutual mistrust turned their conversation into two almost unrelated monologues. Indeed, little was achieved at this summit, except for the expected talks on the security aid package for Israel.

A senior State Department source told Al-Monitor, on the condition of anonymity, that the administration was not disappointed with the meeting, as the president and the secretary of state had no expectations from the prime minister to begin with. “The intervention of Netanyahu in the Iran debate in favor of the Republicans has left irreparable scars regarding the perception here of the prime minister,” he said. The official admitted that prior to the meeting it had been decided to create a facade of mending fences with Israel. Yet the distinction made beforehand by the president, even publicly, of full support for Israel's security on the one hand and broad disagreement on regional policy issues on the other was only strengthened by the meeting. He admitted that bilateral relations remain strained.

Netanyahu, according to this source, made a strong case about Israel being the victim of an orchestrated terror offensive by regional fundamentalist movements and asked the United States to stand by Israel. The president has indeed reiterated in principle Israel’s right to self-defense. But the analysis of the administration underscores the diplomatic stalemate on the Palestinian issue, not linking it to the Islamic State context.

Jerusalem views this meeting rather similarly. A confidant close to Netanyahu told Al-Monitor that, given the mutual suspicions between the two leaders, the meeting was the best Netanyahu could have expected. Yet, according to this source, Netanyahu did not change his views on the Iran deal, on the Palestinian issue or, for that matter, his critical opinion of Obama. Netanyahu is convinced that Obama does not understand the Arab world, that he is too weak in reacting to Arab terror and that he is naive in believing that diplomacy could rectify the situation in Syria and the West Bank. The source reaffirmed that Netanyahu has made no concessions on any of the issues, except for lip service on the two-state solution. One can therefore conclude that the meeting did not heal the damaged Washington-Jerusalem relationship, except for the verbal affirmation of the long-standing alliance.