US slams Israeli defense minister attack on Kerry --- Washington — A senior US official on Tuesday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly disavow a complaint by Israel's defense minister that John Kerry has a messianic "obsession" with Middle East peace. -- The official made the highly unusual demand as fresh tension erupted between the governments of President Barack Obama and of Netanyahu after the minister, Moshe Yaalon, was quoted as branding the US secretary of state, who has made 10 trips to Israel since March, a nuisance. -- "We expect the prime minister to put this right by expressing publicly his disagreement with the statements against Secretary Kerry, the negotiations with the Palestinians and Kerry's commitment to Israel's security," a senior State Department official told AFP. -- Yaalon's remarks were also condemned by Kerry's spokeswoman and then in an apparently coordinated rebuttal to Israel, taken up by the White House. -- "The remarks of the Israeli defense minister, if accurate, are offensive and inappropriate, especially in light of everything that the United States is doing to support Israel's security needs," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. -- "Secretary Kerry and his team have been working nonstop in their efforts to promote a secure peace for Israel because of the deep concern the United States has and the deep commitment the United States has for and to Israel's future and the Israeli people." -- "To question Secretary Kerry's motives and distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the defense minister of a close ally." -- Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot quoted Yaalon as expressing the hope that Kerry would end his peace push and focus his energies elsewhere. - More, AFP, at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iXTqIljFf3ZQX2byUW3f71ogCldA?docId=9f09b458-75f7-4fa8-a12b-42cf81bfc5c7&hl=en