What was the most important thing that President Obama wanted to convey to Prime Minister Netanyahu in their closed meeting at the White House on Monday? Here’s a wild guess: it had nothing to do with “aggressive” settlements, Iranian sanctions, Talmudic sayings “if not now, then when” or any of the other issues that Obama tackled in his widely-quoted Bloomberg interview with Jeffrey Goldberg.

Instead, Obama may have said something like this: “Do me a favor, Bibi my boy. Tomorrow, when you address AIPAC, be gentle with me. The last thing I need now is for you to whip up the pro-Israel lobbyists or the members of Congress with allegations and insinuations of my weak leadership.”

After all, between the time that Obama spoke to Goldberg and the time the interview was published, the president’s world turned upside down. It is far from clear that Obama would have chosen to publicly confront Netanyahu at this time had he been aware of the gathering storm over the Ukraine, because “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” as John Lennon wrote. With Vladimir Putin thumbing his nose at him for the entire world to see, an Obama onslaught against Netanyahu might seem personal, petty and ill-conceived.

Read the article in full at Haaretz.