President Barack Obama congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to the ceasefire proposed by Egypt. President Obama has urged the prime minister to accept the ceasefire with the Hamas. Obama-Netanyahu

Prime Minister Netanyahu released a statement that said he had agreed to the suggestion made by President Obama. He thanked the US president for his support of Israel during the operation. The two leaders have a frosty relationship in the past and it looks like a truce has been established. It would give President Obama leverage with the Israeli Prime Minister to deal with more complex problems such as peace between Israelis and Palestinians and the Iranian nuclear crisis.

According to Aaron David Miller, a long time US negotiator on Middle East policy and now with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, President Obama made a virtue out of necessity by repeatedly stressing Israel’s right to self-defense. The president pushed every party involved in the conflict to find a fast solution to the problem.

President Obama gave a wrong first impression to Netanyahu when the president pushed for a comprehensive freeze of Israeli settlements. But he manages to make up for it when he supported Netanyahu through the recent crisis and US financial support for the Iron Dome anti-missile program. This could lead to more trust in the relationship.

The support from the general public in the United States since the start of the Gaza conflict showed Israel that the US would stand up for a vital ally in time of need. This will impact the talk regarding the Iran situation.

Long-time observers of the politics in the Middle East said the strong support given by the White House will set the tone of the relationship going forward. It would not give one country advantage over the other.