Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was disappointed by US President Barack Obama’s comments on Israeli-Palestinian peace in his speech on the Middle East, a senior Israeli official said on Friday.

“There is a feeling that Washington does not understand the reality, doesn’t understand what we face,” the official said on board a plane taking Netanyahu to Washington for talks later in the day with Obama.

“The prime minister’s tough response expresses the disappointment with the absence of central issues that Israel demanded, chiefly the refugee (issue),” he added.