During the discussions held by Israel’s defense and political establishments in the first two days after the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers on June 12, one question was largely debated: Why had the Palestinian Authority, or its leader, not yet condemned the act? 

One participant in those discussions, a seasoned Israeli diplomat, suddenly stood up and pointed out, “The Americans haven’t condemned the act, either.”

The man was both right and wrong. Technically speaking, he was right. On Saturdays and Sundays — the weekend in the United States — the American establishment is off duty, and for all intents and purposes, nonexistent. In the United States, the sanctity of the weekend is compromised only on rare occasions. Our case — namely, the kidnapping of three teenagers — constituted nothing out of the ordinary.

But the diplomat was also right because US-Israel relations — in particular, the relations between the White House and the prime minister's office in Jerusalem — are at an all-time low, as discussed here in Al-Monitor last week. In this regard, one of the most knowledgeable and experienced people on the White House-Jerusalem axis, told Al-Monitor this week: “Never before has there been such a rupture between an American president and an Israeli prime minister. Right now, there is no communication between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Americans do not want to hear from Netanyahu and the White House shuns any direct or intensive link with the Israeli premier.”