A dismayed President Barack Obama recently vented to his friend and former chief campaign adviser David Axelrod about being perceived by some as a foe to Israel, according to JP Updates.com, The Daily Caller reported.

"'You know, I think I am the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat in this office,'" Axelrod recalled during an interview. "'For people to say that I am anti-Israel, or, even worse, anti-Semitic, it hurts.'"

Opining on the deteriorated relationship between the U.S. and Israel, Axelrod criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for caring more about elections than the long-term security of his country.

"The world of politics everywhere is divided into two categories: the first and more common is the people who run for public office because they want to be somebody," he said. "A smaller group is made of respectable people who run for public office because they want to do something — something positive. Shape the future in a positive way. I think Benjamin Netanyahu completely falls in the first category.

"He is a great politician. He knows what he needs to do to get through the next election," Axelrod said. "But it seems to me that Israel has to think about what they need to do to get through the next generation."

U.S.-Israel relations have plummeted during Obama’s tenure in office, reaching an all-time low when Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress in early March to speak out against the Obama administration's proposed nuclear deal with Iran.

Following the speech, which Obama did not attend, and Netanyahu's re-election, Commentary's Peter Wehner characterized the outcome as "Netanyahu’s Historic Win — and Obama’s Humiliating Loss."

"Mr. Obama's clumsy and malicious handling of relations with Israel … is but one brick in a wall of failure and infamy," wrote Wehner.

"The fact that … Netanyahu emerged victorious in his (election) confrontation with Obama — a confrontation that can be traced to Obama's hostility not just to Netanyahu but to Israel — is a heartening development in a world that is increasingly chaotic and violent."

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