Obama received 78 percent of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election but a nationwide Gallup poll in June showed him down to 64 percent backing versus Romney’s 29 percent.

The political jousting on the U.S. campaign trail is mirrored in Israel, whose media have reported misgivings among the military top brass about going it alone against Iran. Speculation is rife that Netanyahu wants to take action ahead of a possible Obama reelection in November.

“The struggle behind the scenes over attacking Iran is reaching a boiling point,” the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz wrote in a front-page analysis.

(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Angus MacSwan)