US President Barack Obama may act against Israel's interests before leaving office: Benjamin Netanyahu

US President Barack Obama walks from Marine One to board Air Force One prior to departure from Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, August 31, 2016. (Photo by AFP )

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed concerns that US President Barack Obama may take action against Israel’s interests before leaving office in January next year.

Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office on Wednesday night that "in the past, presidents at the end of their terms had promoted initiatives which were not in accordance with Israel's interests."

"The prime minister added that he hoped this was not about to be repeated and that he expects the United States not to change what has historically been its policy for decades: to prevent anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council,” the statement said.

The United States has vetoed a number of resolutions condemning the actions or policies of Israel at the United Nations Security Council since 1972, despite frequently criticizing the Tel Aviv regime over its illegal settlement activities in the Palestinian occupied territories.

The Obama administration has repeatedly called the illegal settlements and their continual expansion an obstacle to a two-state solution.

"This significant expansion of the settlement activity poses a serious and growing threat to the viability of a two-state solution," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said recently.

"We are particularly troubled by the policy of retroactively approving illegal outposts and unauthorized settlements," he told reporters on August 31.

US President Barack Obama (right) speaks as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listens during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. (Photo by AP)

There have been speculations in the Israeli media that Obama could break with recent US practice and support of Israel at the UN and its illegal practices.

There has also been speculation the US president could deliver a speech before leaving the White House in January that would do the same.

According to reports, Israeli officials are also afraid that Washington could demand the Netanyahu regime take action against illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's Channel 2 television reported on Wednesday evening that Netanyahu said in a private meeting that "the entire settlement enterprise is in existential danger" during the interim period between the US presidential election on November 8 and when Obama leaves the White House on January 20.

Netanyahu, however, denied on Wednesday night that he had said that during the meeting with a group of Israeli settlers.

The Obama administrations has said that Israel’s illegal settlement activities run counter to the advice provided by the Middle East Quartet, a group which includes the United Nations, European Union, Russia and the United States.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlement colonies built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.