Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's associates said Tuesday that he would continue to resist international pressure, defending the Israeli leader against U.S. President Barack Obama's reported remarks that he was leading the country into isolation.

"Over the past four years the prime minister has stood strong against all international pressure," said Netanyahu's associates. "He will continue to stand firm on Israel's national interests and will not make any compromises that will harm the security of Israeli citizens. He will not agree to a return to the 1967 borders and will make certain that Jerusalem remains united."

The comments of Netanyahu's associates came in response to an article by Jeffrey Goldberg that was published earlier Tuesday on the Bloomberg news website. In the article, Obama was quoted as saying that Netanyahu does not know what Israel's best interests are, and that his conduct will drive Israel into grave international isolation.

Goldberg is considered to be close to the Obama administration and on several occasions during the past four years the White House has channeled public messages through him to Israel and the prime minister – regarding both the Palestinian and Iranian issues.

Both the Prime Minister's Office and Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu election campaign had refrained from commenting on the report throughout the day Tuesday, and Likud ministers avoided making accusations that the American president was trying to interfere with the Israeli elections. "That is a question that needs to be addressed to the American president," said Gilad Erdan, who heads Likud's public relations. It was only in the early evening when associates of the prime minister commented on Obama's remarks.

Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni, however, hastened to respond to Goldberg's report, slamming Netanyahu for leading Israel down a path of isolation, and urging Israeli citizens to heed Obama's remarks as a wake-up call.

Speaking at a press conference, the former opposition leader said relations with the United States are of paramount importance in maintaining Israel’s security. “One can like or not like the president of the United States, but we're talking about Israel’s greatest friend and Israel’s security, so these remarks should wake up every Israeli."

Unlike the silence on Obama's remarks, Likud-Beiteinu quickly responded to Livni's words, saying, "Unfortunately, Tzipi Livni and the left are continuing to recruit the world against Israel."

The messages in Goldberg’s column, which apparently came from a briefing by top officials at the White House, are very similar to those that appeared in a column by political pundit Peter Beinert a few weeks ago, in which he described the White House’s lack of trust in and frustration with Netanyahu.

In his Bloomberg column, Goldberg describes the moment when Obama was apprised of Netanyahu’s decision to advance the planning processes in the controversial E-1 area between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem. Obama, writes Goldberg, “didn’t even bother getting angry. He told several people that this sort of behavior on Netanyahu’s part is what he has come to expect, and he suggested that he has become inured to what he sees as self-defeating policies of his Israeli counterpart.”

According to Goldberg, in the weeks after the Palestinian move at the United Nations, Obama has said in private conversations that “Israel does not know what its own best interests are.” Moreover, in Obama’s opinion with every announcement of new construction in the settlements, Netanyahu is leading his country towards near-total international isolation.

On the Palestinian issue, Goldberg notes, Obama believes Netanyahu is “a political coward, an essentially unchallenged leader who nevertheless is unwilling to lead or spend political capital to advance the cause of compromise.”

According to Goldberg, despite his frustration with Netanyahu, Obama does not intend to cut off military aid to Israel or to stop trying to frustrate Iran’s nuclear ambitions. However, with respect to diplomatic aid from the United States – at the United Nations or in the face of European initiatives – Israel is liable to feel a significant change in the near future. At the next vote in the UN, writes Goldberg, Israel could well find itself even more isolated.

