In light of the recent gaffes attributed to cabinet ministers and Coalition lawmakers, Israeli diplomatic officials have lamented that there is a" crisis atmosphere", owing to the criticism heaped on Israel from abroad and the direct clash with the United States over settlements.
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The diplomatic blunders have affected not just Israel-US relations but also the ties with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the millions of pro-Israel supporters in the American evangelical communities.
The "crisis atmosphere" was very much noticeable in the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen scrambled to issue clarifications that essentially disavowed Transportation Minister Miri Regev's ill-convinced joke on the UAE on Thursday
It has also been evident in the US decision to summon the Israeli ambassador in Washington – for the first time in 13 years – to express concern on the Knesset's passage of a bill that would undo parts of the 2005 Disengagement Law, essentially allowing people to arrive at demolished settlements in northern Samaria without this being illegal.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's speech in front of a distorted map of Jordan similarly infuriated Amman, and a bill that would have cracked down on Christian proselytizers drew outrage among Israel's ardent backers. This forced Netanyahu to announce that it would be shelved, just ours after a Christian priest told Israel Hayom that such activity was rare in Israel to begin with and that it "is not done by members of pro-Israel churches."
To rectify the situation, Israel Hayom understands that Netanyahu plans to take proactive measures over the coming days in order to preempt any future missteps by members of his Coalition, hoping this would be presumably soothe the concerns of Israel's allies and end the diplomatic tension. Sources privy to this plan say the prime minister and his staff are fully cognizant of the damage caused by the recent statements.
A high-ranking diplomatic official issued a strong rebuke of Smotrich and Regev. "How could they say those things? These statements lack any sense and they cannot be explained away; they started a fire and now the flames have to be extinguished quickly," the official said, adding that "when it comes to ministers', it is customary to shower praise on countries; you most definitely don't make statements [like Regev did] on not wanting to come back there [to the UAE]; you don't even make such statements in private conversations."
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