The current Israeli administration has voiced its support for settlement expansion, and the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu even appointed settlers to high-level positions in the cabinet. The reported spike in settlement construction is considered by many to be a slap in the face of the US President's efforts to make peace in the region.

The sneeringly-named "Obama" outpost is part of the newly-established colony Oz Yehonatan, which was illegally constructed on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank.

All Israeli settlements are considered to be in violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prevents the transfer of civilian populations onto land acquired by military takeover. There are currently over 500,000 Israeli settlers living illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, most of whom moved there since the Oslo "Peace Agreement" was signed in 1993, in direct violation of that agreement.

Israeli officials have harshly criticized the new US President for calling for an actual freeze on settlement expansion, saying that George Bush, when he was President, allowed Israeli expansion of settlements while still saying publicly that the Israeli state was in adherence with a settlement "freeze". The officials are disappointed that Obama appears, unlike Bush, to mean what he says in his public speeches, and is actually taking diplomatic action (also unlike Bush) in that arena.