Top officials in the US administration, most notably Secretary of State John Kerry, must have spent Dec. 26-27 in regret and licking their wounds. After all, they agreed to accept the credentials of Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer in 2013. Of course, this came after an energetic campaign and a whole slew of promises by Israel and by Dermer himself. Dermer finally persuaded Kerry to accept him (despite his closeness with senior Republicans) over a private dinner in Washington between just the two men and their wives. Dermer promised Kerry the world, swearing to do everything he could to tone down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to avoid unnecessary spats with the White House, and to create a direct, intimate and honest channel of communication between the president and the prime minister.

This week, that same Dermer was interviewed by at least two major American news networks, CNN and MSNBC, in which he did everything but curse out President Barack Obama and his advisers. His behavior was unprecedented. It was the first time that a serving Israeli ambassador launched a full frontal assault on an American administration still in office, on American soil.

Dermer had all sorts of deprecating terms to describe the US administration, including “runaway train." He claimed that Israel had incontrovertible proof that the United States itself was behind the initiative that led to UN Security Council Resolution 2334 against Israel’s settlement policy Dec. 23, and that Israel would present this evidence to President-elect Donald Trump’s staff once the new administration takes office. Meanwhile, the United States has evidence that Israel already presented its evidence to Trump’s staff, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Meanwhile, the Americans are furious that the Israelis already used Trump for their own ends after the Egyptians presented the first draft proposal of the resolution to the Security Council. They say that Trump called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and convinced him to withdraw the draft. According to Israeli sources, Obama’s staff was outraged when it realized what Israel had done. As far as administration officials were concerned, Israel had crossed another red line, and in a particularly brusque manner at that. The Israelis were working with the Trump administration before it even took office. They were going over the head and behind the back of a serving American president.