"Since really the Eisenhower administration [1953-1961], the United States has tended to criticise Israel behind closed doors, not in public, so this criticism in public is fairly unprecedented," Brendon O'Connor, a professor of US Politics and US Foreign Relations, told SBS News.The comments, along with plummeting American public sentiment towards Israel and the war in Iran, have raised questions about the future of what has been dubbed as the "special relationship".Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says the Trump administration is taking the first steps toward "de-specialising" the US-Israel relationship."What the administration is doing now is beginning to be what I would think is the contours of a deep specialisation of the US-Israeli relationship, meaning that it is a very important relationship, but it is downgraded to being at the same level as the US has with France, for instance," he told CNN O'Connor says Netanyahu's relationship with Democrat leaders had always been "pretty bad" behind closed doors, but he doesn't consider the recent comments from the Trump administration as a fork in the road in US-Israeli relations."I wouldn't underestimate the staying power over the next few years of American support for Israel," he told SBS News."Israel is still going to have a lot of Congressional support, and a lot of support within the Republican party, and a very probably significant amount of the Democratic party."O'Connor said Trump's remarks should not be taken in isolation, pointing to his praise of Netanyahu at last week's G7 meeting in France, at which Trump said that while Netanyahu "is not the easiest guy to deal with," that is "what makes him great"