In recent years, Israel-Britain ties have been extremely strong by historical standards. But last week they seemed to hit the rocks.
Any lingering hopes in the Israeli government that Britain would provide some internal opposition to the Iran deal within the P5+1 group of powers evaporated as the agreement was announced in Vienna on Tuesday morning.
Not that there had been high expectations, but the remarks by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in the Commons the next day that "the question you have to ask yourself is what kind of a deal would have been welcomed in Tel Aviv. The answer of course is that Israel doesn't want any deal with Iran," and that "Israel wants a permanent state of stand-off," were jarring.
The fact that he chose to refer to the city where Britain's embassy in Israel is located, not to its capital, made it worse. "Hammond seems to have swallowed the Foreign Office line," said one exasperated Israeli official.
The next day, Mr Hammond was in Jerusalem, but he did not take the opportunity to smooth over the previous day's tension.
In a press conference, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Foreign Secretary engaged in some public sparring over the deal, contradicting each other over its details.
However, the impression that something is seriously amiss in the UK-Israel relationship is erroneous.
Mr Netanyahu has a good relationship with David Cameron and the staunchly pro-Israel positions of key cabinet members such as George Osborne and Michael Gove have not changed. Meanwhile, few in Jerusalem had expectations that the British diplomats involved in the P5+1 talks would diverge from the US position.
Jerusalem is aware that Britain's influence is not at its highest point, and that all the diplomatic capital it has is focused on the renegotiation of its EU membership. Mr Cameron is eager to maintain his ties with the Obama administration as its backing could be useful in Brussels and Berlin.
Since the reshuffle a year ago, when he replaced William Hague, Mr Hammond has been seen as particularly pro-Israel and defended Israel during the Gaza conflict. Israeli diplomats were at pains to emphasise that, after the public tiff in Jerusalem, the meeting itself with Mr Netanyahu was "very friendly". Israelis traditionally see Downing Street as a much friendlier location than the Foreign Office around the corner.
More than anything else, this short episode has emphasised just how toxic the Iranian issue has become for Israel and its traditional allies.