In his first public comments since the election on the worsening US-Israeli relations, President Barack Obama said he believes he has to take Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu at his word when he say he opposes Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu had claimed to be in favor of the two-state solution for many years, but publicly disavowed the position just days before last week’s election, which appears to have gained him considerable right-wing support.

Netanyahu followed up on the election and White House criticism by trying to backtrack once more, saying he’s still technically in support of a two-state solution, just not right now. The US has pushed for clarification.

Whatever ultimately comes of that, Republicans are slamming President Obama over his comments, with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R – IA) lamenting that the US-Israeli partnership should be assumed to be over, adding the extremely Twitter-friendly complaint “Obama shld reconsider bc Israel only friend of US”.

The ever-furious Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) also blasted Obama’s “temper tantrum,” insisting Netanyahu should be given the benefit of the doubt on whatever he claims his position to be at any given time.