Amid reports of a ‘full-blown crisis', the Obama administration tried to distance itself Wednesday from sharp criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed to American officials.
"Certainly that's not the Administration's view, and we think such comments are inappropriate and counter-productive," National Security Spokesperson Alistair Baskey said on behalf of the White House.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu and the President have forged an effective partnership, and consult closely and frequently, including earlier this month when the President hosted the Prime Minister in the Oval Office."
Senior American officials were quoted by The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg as calling Netanyahu a "coward" on tackling Iran and "chickenshit" who is only interested in his own political survival.
Goldberg wrote that over the years Washington officials have described Netanyahu as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, and pompous – but none of these insults were as surprising, he says, as "chickenshit."
One of the officials told Goldberg that the Obama administration no longer believes Netanyahu's threats of a preemptive airstrike on Tehran's nuclear facilities.
The State Department has also made an effort in distancing itself from the acrid comments, with its spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, calling the comments "inappropriate and counterproductive."
US Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as President Obama, she said, "don’t view that language and those words as appropriate or accurate."
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office rejected the US criticism in The Atlantic, where one official called him ‘chickenshit,’ amid reports of a ‘full-blown crisis'; Bennett warns US plans to ‘throw Israel under the bus’.
Sources in the office said Netanyahu “will continue to stand for Israeli interests, and no pressure will change this.”
On Tuesday, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett called the statements in The Atlantic ‘’an affront to Jews throughout the world’’.
“If what was written [in The Atlantic] is true, then it appears the current administration plans to throw Israel under the bus,’’ he said.
“Not the leader of Syria who has massacred 150,000 of his citizens, nor the leader of Saudi Arabia who stones women and homosexuals, nor the leader of Iran who murdered demonstrators for freedom were called ‘chickenshit,’” Bennett stressed.
“The Prime Minister is not a private person but the leader of the Jewish state and the whole Jewish world. Such severe insults towards the prime minister of Israel are hurtful to millions of Israeli citizens and Jews all over the world,” he wrote.
“Israel is the only democratic nation in the Middle East and has been fighting for its existence for 66 years. Israel is the forward bastion of the free world in the face of the Islamic terrorism of Islamic State, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran,” he added. “Instead of attacking Israel and forcing it to accept suicidal terms, it should be strengthened. I call on the US administration to renounce these coarse comments and to reject them outright.”
Earlier this week, Netanyahu yesterday defended potential construction in areas of Jerusalem beyond the pre-1967 borders, despite reported sharp criticism from American officials.
On Monday, Netanyahu issued a directive to advance the construction of 660 units in the Ramat Shlomo neighbourhood in northern Jerusalem and 400 units in Har Homa in the southeast of the city. Although the announcement does not signal imminent construction, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington is “certainly deeply concerned” by the announcement, adding that such plans are “incompatible with the pursuit of peace.”
Speaking to the Israeli army radio, Netanyahu commented : ‘’It is legitimate that our friends the Americans will have a different opinion, but it is also legitimate that we will stand firm on our positions regarding things that are vital.”
“I have heard a claim that our construction in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem makes peace more distant. It is the criticism which is making peace more distant,” he said.