US and Europe leaders weary of Netanyahu may be hoping for change in election
Leaders frustrated at lack of progress in peace talks under Netanyahu
"Anyone but Bibi." It is the rallying cry of opponents battling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tuesday's parliamentary election, but also seems to sum up aptly feelings in both the United States and Europe.
After nine years in power, the wily politician appears to have outstayed his welcome on both sides of the Atlantic, with state leaders exasperated by the repeated failure under his watch of efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Netanyahu has had a notoriously frosty relationship with US President Barack Obama, and relations between Israel and its traditionally staunch American ally are at an all-time low.
Bilateral ties, already damaged after Netanyahu exited an American-led peace attempt abruptly in April, were left in tatters when he took the unprecedented step of addressing the US Congress this month to attack ongoing nuclear talks with Iran.
The White House, while declaring it was staying out of the Israeli election, had also made its anger at Netanyahu abundantly clear, with top administration officials snubbing him during the Washington visit.
In the past months, officials on both sides have also engaged in expletive-laden anonymous exchanges in the US and Israeli media, revealing in no uncertain terms everyone's true feelings.
"The notion that we don't meet Israeli prime ministers this close to elections is just wrong," Middle East expert Aaron Miller said, pointing to White House talks between then Israeli leader Shimon Peres and US president Bill Clinton in 1996 just weeks before polls in May.