Key crises in United States-Israel ties

The latest diplomatic spat between Israel and Washington over the United States abstaining in a UN Security Council resolution on settlements is not the first crisis between the two allies.

US President Barack Obama's frosty relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit new lows last week after the UN vote calling for an end to Israeli settlement building passed 14-0.

And on Wednesday, in a parting shot from the Obama administration before US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that building settlements on Palestinian land threatens Israel's very future as a democracy.

- 1975: The Sinai crisis -

Perhaps the most significant crisis was in 1975, when Washington pressed Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had seized during the 1967 Six-Day War.

But Israel refused to do so without a full peace deal with Egypt, prompting US president Gerald Ford to inform Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin that Washington would conduct a "reassessment" of bilateral ties. 

Between March and August of 1975, US arms shipments to Israel were suspended -- a major step given Washington's position as Israel's biggest provider of financial and military aid.

The standoff was resolved when Israel and Egypt signed an interim peace agreement in September 1975, a key step towards their 1979 peace treaty.

- 1985: The Pollard affair -

Washington's arrest in 1985 of American intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard, who passed classified US information to Israel, marked a "major low" in the relationship, according to Israeli historian Jonathan Rynhold. It was a regular source of tension for three decades until his eventual release in November 2015.

Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the affair sparking a crisis in ties that only ended when Israel promised to end all espionage activities on US soil.

- 1990: White House phone number -

In a shaky start to cooperation between George Bush's administration and that of Israeli premier Yitzhak Shamir, the US secretary of state very publicly rebuked Israel over conditions it sought to impose on the Palestinians in peace talks.

Secretary of state James Baker directed the following remarks to Shamir at a meeting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

"I have to tell you that everybody over there should know that the telephone number is 1-202-456-1414... When you're serious about peace, call us."

- 2015: Netanyahu Congress address -

Two weeks before the March 17 general election in Israel, Netanyahu travelled to Washington to give a speech to the US Congress at the invitation of Republican House of Representatives speaker John Boehner, bypassing diplomatic protocol by not running it through the White House.

Incensed, Obama and dozens of Democrats boycotted the speech, in which Netanyahu railed against an emerging world deal with Iran over its nuclear programme.

- 2016: UN vote on settlements -

Less than four weeks before Obama leaves office, Kerry accused Netanyahu's government of allowing Israel to slide towards a "perpetual occupation".

Netanyahu responded by saying Kerry was biased towards the Palestinian cause.

It was not clear what impact Kerry hopes to have on the peace process. 

For his part, Trump has urged Israel to "stand strong" in the face of international pressure. 

The UN resolution that sparked the latest crisis, backed unanimously by the rest of the 15 powers on the Security Council, effectively declared Israel's settlements in areas of east Jerusalem and the West Bank beyond its 1967 border to be illegal.

A furious Netanyahu, whose right-wing coalition is backed by the settler movement and who has insisted the home building is no threat to peace, accused Obama and Kerry of orchestrating the Security Council vote.

Source: AFP