Relations with US top priority, Rivlin says amid reports of crisis

In the face of a seemingly deepening rift with the US, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said in an interview Wednesday that Israel’s relationship with the Washington is of the utmost importance to the Jewish state.

Speaking to Israel’s Army Radio from a state visit to Poland, Rivlin attempted to downplay a Tuesday report that said ties between Washington and Jerusalem had hit a nadir.

“Israel has three top priorities in its foreign relations — the first is relations with the United States, the second — relations with the United States. The third, which is no less important, is relations with the United States,” he said. “However, the United States understands that we must build Jerusalem, and Jerusalem will remain built in its entirety.”

Rivlin made his comments following the publication of a damning story in the Atlantic that portrayed the rift between the US and Israel as a “full-blown crisis.”

The report quoted one Obama administration official calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “chickenshit,” and saying the US increasingly sees the Israeli leader as acting out of a “near-pathological desire for career-preservation” and not much more.

Responding to the report, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu “will continue to stand for Israeli interests, and no pressure will change this.”

In an interview with Israel Radio on Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor largely dismissed the Atlantic report, saying that the personal attacks on the prime minister, while not helpful, did not reflect the actual state of US-Israel ties, as evidenced by the fact that the administration stands by Israel in UN matters.

Diplomatic rhetoric has heated up in recent days as the US used strong terms to condemn Netanyahu’s Monday approval for 1,000 new homes in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Israelis’ continued building across the Green Line was “incompatible with their stated desire to live in a peaceful society.”

Rivlin also clarified that while he opposes beginning construction projects over the Green Line in retaliation for Palestinian actions, building in places that Israel does not intend to give up in a peace agreement “is not a provocation.”

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have vowed to continue building in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Israel effectively annexed the eastern half of the city in 1980, but Palestinians claim the area as the capital for a future state.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.