Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon created a rift between the United States and his country when he attacked Secretary of State John Kerry as being “obsessive” and “messianic” in an Israeli tabloid. U.S. officials are reportedly now demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly denounce his defense minister over the comments in order to mend that fissure between the two allies.

“In effect, during these past months, there haven’t been negotiations with the Palestinians, but with the Americans,” Ya’alon told reporters with the Israeli tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth. “The only thing that can ‘save’ us is for John Kerry to win his Nobel Prize and leave us alone.”

According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, an American official has demanded that Netanyahu weigh in on the matter. “We expect the Prime Minister [Netanyahu] to put this right by expressing publicly his disagreement with the statements against Secretary Kerry, the negotiations with the Palestinians and Kerry’s commitment to Israel’s security,” the official reportedly said.

State Department spokesperson Jennifer Psaki appeared to back up the official’s comments. She told Ha’aretz on Tuesday that Ya’alon’s remarks were “offensive and inappropriate, especially given all that the U.S. is doing to support Israel’s security needs.”

[Photo via AP]