Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) twice tried to get President Barack Obama to announce that the United States would veto any United Nations resolutions calling for an independent Palestinian state. But Reid was rebuffed both times, Politico reported Thursday.

The requests from Reid came as he was trying to line up Democratic support for the Iran nuclear agreement. If Obama explicitly sided with Israel against the possible U.N. resolution, Reid’s thinking went, it would give nervous Democrats cover to back the Iran deal, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vocally protested.

The repeated requests by Reid and Obama’s unwillingness to make a statement on the issue — confirmed by White House officials and Senate aides — highlights how wide the gulf between the Obama administration and Israeli government has become.

American policy has long been that it will block any resolution or other form of unilateral move. But earlier this year, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he did not believe that a Palestinian would likely be created while he was in office, the White House said it was “reassessing” its position on the issue.

Where the Obama administration stands on a Security Council resolution has become increasingly significant in the wake of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the United Nations, in which he said that the PA was no longer bound by any agreements it made with Israel, including the Oslo Accords.

Abbas’s speech came a few months after the United States made an appeal on behalf of the PA to limit its financial liability as it appealed a multi-million dollar lawsuit for its complicity in terror attacks against American citizens.

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