US Secretary of State John Kerry hit out Thursday at reported insults by an American official leveled against the Israeli prime minister, saying it was “disgraceful, unacceptable and damaging.”
The top US diplomat also pledged the United States would continue to work “quietly and effectively” to try to relaunch the peace process with the Palestinians in a thoughtful and even-handed way, saying it was “doable.”
Turbulent US-Israel ties plunged to new lows this week, when an anonymous senior Obama administration official was quoted in The Atlantic magazine as calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a chickenshit” only interested in preserving his own political skin.
Kerry told a forum hosted by The Atlantic that the comments did not reflect the views of either President Barack Obama or his cabinet.
A bid by Kerry to hammer out an elusive peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians collapsed earlier this year amid bitter recriminations on both sides.
V-22 sale canceled
On the other hand, Israel’s defence minister is dropping the purchase of US V-22 Osprey aircraft, raising concerns that this could further chill already frosty relations with Washington, Israel Hayom daily said Thursday.
The mass-circulation freesheet, considered close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Moshe Yaalon’s decision went against the Israeli military’s wishes.
The paper linked the move to budget constraints, lessons learned from the 50-day summer war in the Gaza Strip and the recent conclusion of an agreement to buy a second batch of costly Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters.
The V-22 Osprey is an advanced vertical takeoff and landing transport aircraft.
Israel Hayom said the planned purchase of six Ospreys would have made Israel the first country outside the United States to deploy them.
Following the Gaza offensive, Yaalon chose to produce more home-built Namer (Leopard) heavy armoured personnel carriers and increase stocks of precision munitions, the paper said.