U.S. State Department official Wendy Sherman said the US will be watching Netanyahu's new government "very closely." Photo: State Department.

JNS.org– U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman warned Monday that the Obama administration may not be able to sustain its current level of support for Israel if the Jewish state abandons the two-state solution.

Sherman, speaking at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism Biennial Leadership Policy Conference in Arlington, Va., reiterated the White House’s concern over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent assertion that given the current circumstances, the creation of a Palestinian state is infeasible.

“If the new Israeli government is seen as stepping back from its commitment to a two-state solution, something that all of you and a vast majority of American Jews supports, that makes our job in the international arena a lot tougher because our ability to push back on efforts to internationalize efforts to address Israeli-Palestinian issues has depended on our insistence that the best course in achieving a two-solution is through direct negotiation between the parties,” Sherman said.

Netanyahu, she said, “raised questions about his government’s commitment to a two-state solution in comments he made right before and right after the Israeli election.”