text: (CNN) President Barack Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the United States would "reassess" aspects of its relationship with Israel after Netanyahu's provocative statements leading up to Tuesday's Israeli election. 
   
   The phone call Thursday was officially described as a message of congratulations on Netanyahu's victory, but it also carried a serious warning after the prime minister opposed the creation of a Palestinian state in the last days of his campaign. 
   
   "The President told the Prime Minister that we will need to re-assess our options following the Prime Minister's new positions and comments regarding the two state solution," according to a White House official. 
   
   According to an official statement put out after the call, the president also emphasized the United States' "long-standing commitment to a two-state solution" during their conversation. 
   
   Earlier Thursday, Netanyahu walked back his disavowal of a two-state solution, a position he endorsed in an effort to appeal to right-wing voters with polls showing him facing tough competition. 
   
   U.S. officials had already said that they have been waiting to see if Netanyahu would stand behind the campaign comments nixing a Palestinian state as he moves toward forming a governing coalition. 
   
   It took two days for Netanyahu's about face. 
   
   "I don't want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution," Netanyahu said Thursday in an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. "I haven't changed my policy." 
   
   White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, speaking before the call, had stopped short of saying that the U.S. reassessment would include offering support for a U.N. resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The resolution is opposed by Jerusalem, but U.S. officials have floated it as a possibility in the wake of Netanyahu's remarks. 
   
   Asked by Israeli news site NRG on Monday if he was ruling out the formation of a Palestinian state while he's prime minister, Netanyahu responded, "Indeed." He also blasted the idea of such a state given the security challenges facing Israel. 
   
   Netanyahu's comments Monday were seen as a key part to his Tuesday election victory but also "raised significant concerns" with senior administration officials back in Washington, who view ruling out a two-state solution as a significant setback for U.S.-Israel relations as it goes against more than a decade of American policy. 
   
   On Thursday, Netanyahu said his comments were a reflection of changing conditions on the Palestinian side, pointing to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's pact to form a unity government with Hamas, which Israel, the U.S. and most European countries consider a terrorist organization. He put the onus on Palestinian leaders to create conditions favorable for peace. 
   
   "I'm talking about what is achievable and what is not achievable," Netanyahu said Thursday. "If you want to get peace, you've got to get the Palestinian leadership to abandon their pact with Hamas and engage in genuine negotiations with Israel." 
   
   Netanyahu said he supports the same conditions for negotiating a sustainable peace that he staked out in 2009: a demilitarized Palestinian state whose leadership recognizes Israel as a Jewish state. 
   
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   Netanyahu also walked back another controversial campaign remark, in which he urged his supporters to go out to counteract the effect of Arab voters who he said were rushing to the polls "in droves." 
   
   Earnest on Thursday said those comments "erode at the values that are critical to the bond between our two countries." 
   
   "I wasn't trying to suppress the vote ... I was calling on our voters to come out," Netanyahu said. "I'm very proud to be the prime minister of all Israel's citizens." 
   
   Netanyahu went on to say that he drew support from "quite a few Arab voters" and spoke of "free and fair elections" in Israel that aren't commonplace in the rest of the Middle East. 
   
   Netanyahu also shrugged off the criticism of the Obama administration. 
   
   The Israeli prime minister pointed to the "unbreakable bond" between the U.S. and Israel and downplayed strains in his personal relationship with Obama. 
   
   "America has no greater ally than Israel and Israel has no greater ally than the United States," Netanyahu said. "We'll work together. We have to." ||||| Share on Facebook Share on Twitter 
   
   The US is reconsidering its staunch support of Israel at the United Nations and has not automatically accepted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement to the American media affirming his support of two states for two peoples after pre-election comments that appeared to reject it. 
   
   
   
   “I never retracted my speech in Bar-Ilan University six years ago calling for a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognized the Jewish state,” Netanyahu said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “I want a sustainable peaceful two-state solution,” he said. “But for that, circumstances have to change.” 
   
   
   
   
   
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   Two days earlier, Netanyahu told the Israeli media that a Palestinian state would not be created during his premiership and warned against Arab voters heading to the polls in droves. But on Thursday, with his job safely back in his hands, Netanyahu took to the US airwaves to assuage White House concerns he has reneged on the peace process.White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that, despite Netanyahu’s American media interviews, the US will “still evaluate” its policy on the Middle East peace process.With a sharper tone since first reacting to Israel’s election results on Wednesday, Earnest characterized Netanyahu’s claim that Arabs were voting “in droves” against him as a “cynical Election Day tactic.”Obama administration officials hinted broadly that the US may – for the first time – back a UN Security Council resolution laying down the principles for a two-state solution, or support a Palestinian bid to join the UN as a full member. The Palestinians have sought a path to statehood outside negotiations with Israel through the UN, but longstanding US policy has been to oppose unilateral actions by either side.US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that, while the US remains committed to opposing an unfair or biased resolution on Israel, not all resolutions meet that criteria.“There are a range of options in the UN Security Council,” she said. “I am not going to prejudge it further. What we will look at is the content of a resolution.”The prime minister’s pre-election comments, Earnest said, called into question his commitment to the pursuit of peace and have forced the US government to reassess its stance.“What is clear is that in the context of the campaign and while he was the sitting prime minister of Israel he walked back from commitments that Israel had previously made to a two state solution,” Earnest said.The Israeli-US Strategic Partnership Act that passed the House of Representatives last December, identified a two-state solution as a US goal to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians, Earnest said.”We believe [Netanyahu] changed his position,” Psaki said. “He was the prime minister three days ago, so certainly we can’t forget about those comments.” She added that “it’s not about showing our displeasure. It’s about finding a way forward.”The White House said President Barack Obama and his administration would be carefully watching the actions of Netanyahu, his party, and his coalition moving forward.But the State Department further warned that, despite its reassessment, it still supports Palestinian cooperation with the Israelis on security matters.Netanyahu told MSNBC that, while he has not backtracked on his Bar-Ilan University speech, the reality has changed. He blamed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for being responsible for part of that change, saying that he refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and has made a pact with Hamas that calls for Israel’s destruction.He also said that all territory vacated in the Middle East is taken over by Islamist forces.“If you want to get peace, you’ve got to get the Palestinian leadership to abandon their pact with Hamas and engage in genuine negotiations with Israel for an achievable peace,” he said. “We have to also make sure that we don’t have ISIS coming in to that territory. It’s only two dozen miles away from our border.”In the interview Netanyahu spoke of the need for him to work together with Obama, saying there is an “unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States.”Asked about his comments on Election Day, when he urged his supporters to vote because Arab voters were going to the polls en masse, Netanyahu said the right of all to vote in Israel is “sacrosanct.” He said his words referred to a “massive foreign- funded effort” to try to get out votes for a specific party (the Joint List), which he called “an amalgamation of Islamists and other anti-Israel groups.”“I said when that happens, make sure we get out our vote,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to suppress a vote, I was trying to get something to counter a foreign- funded effort to get votes that are intended to topple my party, and I was calling on our voters to come out.”Netanyahu, in his first interview since the election, said while he and Obama may have their differences, “we have so many things that unite us. We have a situation in the Middle East that is very dangerous and presents a common challenge to us.”The prime minister said that although he has not yet spoken to Obama, he is sure he will soon.“We work together. We have to,” he said. “We have our differences.By coming to the US [to speak to Congress] I did not mean any disrespect or attempt at partisanship, but I was merely speaking of something that I view could endanger the survival of Israel.”Netanyahu said there are many areas where the US and Israel must work together.“We are allies. We have to consult each other, not have fiats or unilateral impositions, but negotiated peace with our neighbors and support between allies. America has no greater ally than Israel, and Israel has no greater ally than the United States.”Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni said Thursday it was sad that “after another zigzag from Netanyahu on two states, there is no one left in the world who believes the prime minister of Israel.”No Likud MK was willing to criticize Netanyahu Thursday for his two-state endorsement, despite many being opposed to such a move.Meanwhile, US administration officials were quoted in The New York Times on Thursday saying that Obama – following Netanyahu’s reelection – will not “waste his time” on the managing Israel-US relations, delegating it instead to Secretary of State John Kerry.The Times quoted a senior White House official as saying that the US position has been to support direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.“We are now in a reality where the Israeli government no longer supports direct negotiations,” he said. “Therefore we clearly have to factor that into our decisions going forward.”While Obama has not yet called Netanyahu to congratulate him on his victory, the premier did receive calls on Thursday from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.He also received congratulatory messages from the leaders of the Netherlands, Romania, and the Czech Republic.White House officials have been in touch with their Israeli counterparts to discuss a phone call between Obama and Netanyahu, but no date has been set for a future meeting.The US continues to be committed to the kind of military, intelligence, and security cooperation that has characterized US and Israel for generations, Earnest said.Gil Hoffman contributed to this report. 
   
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target: – With polls showing him in trouble on the eve of Israel's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disavowed his support for a two-state solution with Palestinians and immediately reversed his political fortunes. With his victory less than two days old, he has already backtracked, reports the Jerusalem Post. “I haven't changed my policy," he tells Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC in an interview that airs this evening, as quoted in the New York Times. "I don’t want a one-state solution. I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution, but for that, circumstances have to change." Netanyahu says his comments before the election—in answer to a question, he said there would be no two-state solution under his watch—were more a reflection of how things had changed on the Palestinian side in recent years. “I was talking about what is achievable and what is not achievable," he said. "We have to have real negotiations with people who are committed to peace.” Critics had accused him of pandering to right-wing voters to avoid defeat. In the MSNBC interview, Netanyahu also denied that his last-minute video warning supporters that Arabs were voting "in droves" was an attempt to whip up anti-Palestinian sentiment, reports CNN. "I wasn't trying to suppress the vote," he said. "I was calling on our voters to come out." The original two-state comment in particular had irritated the White House, which warned it was re-evaluating its relations with Israel.