Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken what is being described as a subtle dig at President Obama following widespread reports of a rift between the two. Bloomberg News has recently reported that Obama chided Netanyahu’s government in private, apparently saying, “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are,” and expressing the view that Netanyahu is a “political coward.” Visiting an Israeli army base on Wednesday, Netanyahu appeared to respond.

Prime Minister Netanyahu: “I think everyone understands that only Israeli citizens will be the ones who determine who loyally represents the state of Israel’s vital interests. In the past four years, we have faced tremendous pressures. We were demanded to restrain pressure against Iran, to withdraw to the 1967 border lines, to divide Jerusalem, that we won’t build in Jerusalem. We repelled those pressures, and I shall continue to protect Israel’s vital interests for the sake of the security of Israel’s citizens.”

Despite talk of a rift between President Obama and Netanyahu, Obama has yet to take any action on one of the most controversial settlement expansions by the Israeli government in years. Israel is now expanding the E1 settlement in the West Bank after putting it on hold since objections were raised under George W. Bush. The E1 zone is particularly sensitive because its completion would bisect the West Bank, dashing whatever remote hopes remain for a two-state solution. But the Obama administration has refused to cut aid or even offer criticism, limiting its reaction to calling the E1 expansion “counterproductive.”