Relations between America and some of her friends, and between those friends, are undergoing strain.

For starters, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right politician expected to be appointed the minister of internal security in the new Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, offered words of praise for Rabbi Meir Kahane at a memorial for the ultranationalist, whose Kach party has been banned in Israel since 1994. This prompted the State Department to condemn his remarks as “abhorrent.” On top of that, under pressure from “the Squad” and other progressive members of Congress, the Biden administration is going forward with an investigation into the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who died reporting on an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin last summer. The U.S. had initially agreed with the Israeli government’s conclusion that she was likely killed by “unintentional Israeli fire.”

Netanyahu’s opening the door to Ben-Gvir for the sake of political maneuvering is regrettable. Regrettable also is progressive lawmakers’ transparent attempt to use the death of a war correspondent against Israel.

Now there is new tension between Jerusalem and Kyiv. After Ukraine voted to advance an anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. General Assembly, Israel admonished the Ukrainian ambassador over the vote. Israel abstained on a vote on a U.N. resolution in support of a mechanism for Russian reparations to Ukraine. Meanwhile an aide to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Ukraine’s vote “a grave mistake.”

President Biden doesn’t deserve all the blame for these diplomatic snags, but it’s his responsibility at least to avoid making them worse. Biden and his State Department must ensure that we don’t needlessly harm relations with our allies, and make every attempt to allay tensions among friends.