U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and apologized for the harsh comments about him that were published this week in The Atlantic.

During the conversation, Kerry made clear to Netanyahu that the remarks do not reflect the position of the American government. U.S. officials said the conversation was held in a positive atmosphere.

The comments, which were attributed by Jeffrey Goldberg to unnamed officials in the Obama administration, were made up of a series of derogatory names and insults directed at Netanyahu, including descriptions such as “chickens**t” and “Aspergery”.

The comments in The Atlantic raised the ire of Israeli officials as well as of Republicans. On Thursday, Kerry publicly condemned the comments, saying they were “disgraceful, unacceptable and damaging.”

He claimed the comments did not reflect the views of President Barack Obama or his cabinet.

The White House also distanced itself from the comments earlier this week, with a spokesman for the National Security Council saying, “Certainly that’s not the Administration’s view, and we think such comments are inappropriate and counter-productive.”

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)