In a
revealing interview, US President Barack Obama has expressed his frustrations with some leaders in the Middle East, including the "condescension" of Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.
Jeffrey Goldberg's six-hour sit-down with Obama was published in The Atlantic and offers some insights into the president's dealings with other world leaders.
Obama, who is reaching the end of his second term, described an incident in which Netanyahu began lecturing him about the dangers of the Middle East.
"Obama felt that Netanyahu was behaving in a condescending fashion, and was also avoiding the subject at hand: peace negotiations," Goldberg writes.
The interview goes on to recount Obama's side of the exchange.
“Bibi, you have to understand something,” he said. “I’m the African-American son of a single mother, and I live here, in this house. I live in the White House. I managed to get elected president of the United States.
"You think I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but I do.”
Nethanyahu is not alone in having incurred Obama's displeasure.
According to Goldberg, Obama sees Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "failure and an authoritarian," despite having been initially optimistic about what he had to offer as a leader.