"...Netanyahu believes that Obama wants a confrontation with Israel..."

Aluf Benn, in Haaretz, here

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that U.S. President Barack Obama wants a confrontation with Israel, ... an open controversy with Israel would serve the Obama administration's main objective of improving U.S. relations with the Arab world, the aides say. ...

.... He fears that the president will present positions that will not be easy for Israel to accept, such as a demand to withdraw to the lines of June 4, 1967.... 

Israel historically has depended on the White House to balance the consensus of officials in the state and defense departments; this consensus usually leans toward the Arab side. 

Israeli officials say that under Obama, the White House has become the main problem in relations. ..

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who visited Washington last week, says the Obama administration has no personal problem with Netanyahu and that the Americans do not not seek to undermine the Israeli coalition and topple the government. 

Barak says Obama's positions are guided by strategic considerations - he has undertaken to withdraw from Iraq and is striving to end the war in Afghanistan and needs the moderate Arab states' support. This, rather than "political persecution," is behind the administration's attitude toward Israel, he says. "