Washington Post to Obama: Welcome Netanyahu's re-election, urge him to form centrist government

The Washington Post devoted its editorial page to "one of the more remarkable aspects of Israel's current election campaign," on Tuesday.

"Mr. Netanyahu hasn't been afraid to play up his notoriously bad relations with President Obama," wrote the Post's editorial board, stating that in the past, a prime minister's poor relations with the President of the United States would amount to political failure.

The Post's editorial described the recent comments made by President Obama to Bloomberg Columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, that Israel "doesn't know what its own best interests are."

According to the Post, Netanyahu's response, that only Israelis can determine their own best interests, was received warmly by the Israeli public. The Post cited a recent poll, which showed that half of Israelis believe that Netanyahu should disregard the United States' opposition to its policies.

The post leveled some of the blame on Obama himself, accusing the U.S. President of "poorly handling" relations with Israel, and calls on him to "concede, and maybe even welcome, Mr. Netanyahu’s reelection while quietly urging him to construct a centrist government."

"Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu may be political foils, but as each begins a new term their deeper interest lies in a reset of their relationship," wrote the Post's editorial board.