Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has been accused by senior opposition figure Tzipi Livni of leading the country into “crisis and diplomatic isolation”, amid growing criticism of his handling of relations with the US.

The comments by the former justice minister and lead negotiator in the peace process with the Palestinians came after it was revealed that Barack Obama would not meet with Netanyahu during the Israeli prime minister’s visit to address Congress in March.

The planned trip, which was orchestrated by congressional Republicans in clear breach of protocol by a visiting foreign head of state, has provoked fury inside the US administration, not least because the White House was not notified before its announcement.

A US official quoted anonymously in the Israeli paper Haaretz went even further, accusing Netanyahu of “spitting in the face” of the Obama administration.

Netanyahu’s invitation to Congress by the Republican House speaker, John Boehner – two weeks before Israel goes to the polls – has attracted fierce criticism from US officials off the record, a cool reception from the State Department in public and sceptical commentary from Israeli columnists who have accused Netanyahu of engineering the speech to further his struggling election prospects.



“We thought we’ve seen everything,” the senior American official was quoted in Haaretz as saying. “But Bibi managed to surprise even us. There are things you simply don’t do. He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price.”

Another unnamed official quoted in the Washington Post – and described as close to the US secretary of state, John Kerry – suggested that “price” might be a diminishing appetite for supporting Israel.

“The bilateral relationship [between Israel and the US] is unshakable,” the official said. “But playing politics with that relationship could blunt Secretary Kerry’s enthusiasm for being Israel’s primary defender.”

That should be worrying for Israel, which, in the face of growing frustration in Europe over its policies in the occupied territories, has become ever more reliant on the US and its veto on the UN security council.

The White House’s announcement that it would not meet with Netanyahu – although couched in the diplomatic explanation that the president did not meet foreign leaders before elections in their countries – was widely interpreted by the Israeli media as a major snub. Both Yedioth Ahronoth and Ma’ariv led with the headline: “Obama’s Revenge”.

The incident marks a new low in the relationship between Netanyahu and the Obama administration, in part over the perception that the Netanyahu visit has been designed by Republicans and Netanyahu to apply pressure to the White House over the issue of Iranian nuclear negotiations.

Lobbied by the Israeli prime minister and Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, the Republican-led Congress has been pushing for fresh sanctions against Iran, which Obama has repeatedly said he will veto – most recently in his state of the union address on Tuesday.

Relations between Netanyahu and Obama have been marked by rancour, with tensions growing when the Israeli prime minister appeared to back the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, against Obama when the president was standing for re-election.

Netanyahu also provoked the ire of the president when he seemed to lecture Obama publicly in 2011 in the Oval office.

Israel’s ambassador Dermer has also come in for criticism. Dermer – who has already attracted criticism for his advocacy for Netanyahu’s re-election against Israeli civil service rules – is reported to have requested the invitation to speak to Congress.

“It’s a very brutal and unacceptable bypass of the president of the United States and something like that simply damages [Israel],” Shelly Yachimovitch, a Knesset member from the opposition Labour Party told Israel Radio. “I don’t think anyone believes this simply fell on his desk.”

What does appear true is what when Kerry met with Dermer earlier in the week, the secretary of state heard no mention of the invitation.

Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, Alon Pinkas reflected the views of a number of Israeli columnists in warning of the damage that was being done to Israel’s historically most important strategic partnership.

“In close to six years as prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu harmed, weakened and finally destroyed the interpersonal channel [with the US president] and created an unprecedented rift in the relations between president and prime minister.

“These relations are the greatest strategic asset that Israel has had since its establishment, and so this obligation is a moral imperative. He has abused this task in an irresponsible and outspoken manner, with an American president who is pro-Israeli in his actions, though anti-Netanyahu at heart.”

The troubled relations between the Obama administration and Netanyahu have been no secret in recent months. An anonymous senior US official was quoted describing Netanyahu as “a chickenshit” in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic several months ago.

Obama’s own view was caught in an unguarded hot-mic moment with former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011. Sarkozy complained he could not “bear” Netanyahu, describing him as a “liar”. In reply, Obama said: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.”