Israel summoned one of its diplomats from the United States on Sunday after he circulated a memorandum accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of doing "strategic damage" to ties with Washington, Reuters reported.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said a disciplinary measure was being taken with the Israeli consul in Boston, Nadav Tamir, after publication last week of his "very regrettable" memorandum.
Tamir's criticism appeared in a brief intended for internal circulation and was leaked in a Thursday newscast by Israel's Channel 10 television, which quoted him as saying differences with Washington over Jewish settlements had hurt relations.
The settlement issue has opened a rift between Israel and its main ally, with Netanyahu resisting President Barack Obama's calls to freeze the expansion of enclaves Israel has built in territory it captured in a 1967 war.
Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that peace negotiations, stalled since December, cannot resume until settlement activity ceases in the occupied West Bank.
Tamir wrote that Israel's handling of the dispute was "doing strategic damage" to its ties with Washington and had given Israel a negative opinion rating in the United States, similar to those of Iran and North Korea.
Ayalon said any friction with Washington had declined in the past several months, with frequent contacts between Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who has been holding talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume negotiations.
Taking the rare step of dressing down a diplomat publicly, Ayalon told Army Radio no decision had been made as to whether Tamir should be dismissed.
Ayalon said Tamir's document was "not the work of a professional," contained more opinion than data. He called Boston, a liberal bastion, a "bubble," unrepresentative of other U.S. regions where Ayalon insisted support for Israel had grown.
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