Barack Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu
Barack Obama, Binyamin NetanyahuFlash 90

Likud Central Committee Chairman Danny Danon on Monday weighed in on the spat between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama's administration, warning that Israel cannot be bought.

The falling out focuses on a construction project to build 2,610 new homes in the Jewish Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamatos, which while slated for construction since 2012 was only given final approval last week, opening the path for bids sometime in the future.

"President Obama is mistaken if he thinks American military aid, which is given for reasons of American strategic interests, buys him the right to dictate to Israel not to build in Jerusalem," stated Danon.

The statement comes in response to the US State Department's veiled threat in saying American defense systems, primarily the Iron Dome anti-missile system, was an "American value" in response to Netanyahu's words on Sunday.

According to Netanyahu, the criticism is "against the American values. And it doesn’t bode well for peace. The idea that we’d have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it’s anti-peace."

White House press secretary Josh Earnest went on the attack again on Monday, responding by saying "when it comes to American values, it’s American values that led to this country’s unwavering support of Israel. It’s American values that have led us to fund an Iron Dome system."

The choice to refer to American military support as a justification for criticism on a building project in a Jewish neighborhood in Israel's capital city may strike many as odd.

That oddness is particularly heightened given the fact that Obama cancelled a routine Hellfire missile shipment to Israel during the last Gaza operation, additionally ordering heightened scrutiny on future weapons transfers.

The current round of bickering started when the US State Department harshly criticized the construction announcement, to which Netanyahu fired back saying America should "get the facts," after which the White House claimed it had the facts.

Netanyahu has expressed his anger with the far-left group Peace Now for leaking the construction plan to the press ahead of his meeting with Obama last Wednesday, in an attempt to scupper the visit.

While Netanyahu is defending the construction plan, leaders in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem have revealed he has also been covertly freezing Jewish building in those areas for many long months, despite the housing crisis gripping Israel.

Jerusalem Councilman Arieh King has argued Netanyahu's actions are part of a plan to create facts on the ground dividing Jerusalem.