On Saturday, Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid said “there is a crisis with the United States,” noting that Washington-Tel Aviv ties “must be managed respectfully and responsibly.”
The warning comes after reports that the US administration rejected a request by Israeli Minister for Military Affairs Moshe Ya’alon to meet with several top-ranking officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Secretary of State John Kerry, during his five-day visit to Washington this week.
The White House has been upset over Ya’alon’s negative comments regarding Kerry’s efforts to forge a peace deal between Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Earlier in the year, Ya’alon called Kerry’s efforts for a so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace “messianic and obsessive.”
In response, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the remarks were “offensive and inappropriate especially given all that the US is doing to support Israel’s security needs.” Ya’alon later had to apologize for his statements.
In June, the Tel Aviv regime protested the US decision to continue to work with the new Palestinian unity government and provide funding for it.
Observers say Washington’s plan to work with the new unity government shows Obama’s more openness to the Palestinians and the fact that his administration is more critical of Israel.