Barack Obama in Israel in 2008. Photo: http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com.

President Obama plans to travel to Israel in his second term if elected, a campaign aide told the press on Monday.

“We can expect him to visit Israel in a second term should he be elected,” said Colin Kahl, who served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East from 2009 to 2011.

Since being elected to the Oval Office in 2008, Obama has been criticized for not visiting Israel by many, including former U.N. ambassador John Bolton.

“Obama has been in office three and a half years, and he has had time to do more fundraisers than any other first-term American president, has probably played more rounds of golf than any other president since Dwight Eisenhower, and yet he has not had time to fit into his busy schedule even one trip to Israel,” Bolton told Aaron Klein on WABC Radio on Monday.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will visit Israel during a trip later this week to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as other Israeli officials. President Obama visited the Jewish state in 2008, during his time in the U.S. Senate.