There were smiles and handshakes and plenty of “thank you”s as Barack Obama hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Wednesday, for what may well be his last time as US president. Clearly, both men wanted to publicly end what have been years of roller coaster personal relations on a relative high.

Nonetheless, some of the differences peeked through — on issues trivial and more substantial. As so often with these two leaders, their best effort to showcase warmth and empathy were only partially successful, and even their brief exchanges underlined some of the frustrations each has always felt with the other.

Netanyahu, seeking to underline the familiarity of their relationship, referred to the president at one point as Barack: “I want you to know, Barack, that you’ll always be a welcome guest in Israel,” he said. Obama, who did make the effort to call Netanyahu by the affectionate nickname “Bibi” several times when he visited Israel in 2013, did not reciprocate this time, however.

Read the full article at Times of Israel.