U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice met Israeli leaders Wednesday after the collapse of U.S.-brokered Middle East peace talks and amid allegations Israel was spying on its principal ally.

Rice started her visit by meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked a 2011 peace agreement he had secretly negotiated with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Peres said he and Abbas had finalized a draft agreement in a series of secret meetings in neighboring Jordan but the draft was rejected by Netanyahu's right-leaning government.

U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice will visit Israel this week for high-level talks only days after the collapse of a U.S.-led peace bid, the White House said Tuesday.

Rice will "lead the U.S. delegation to the U.S.-Israel Consultative Group meetings" on Wednesday and Thursday, said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif fought back Tuesday against increasingly scathing criticism from hardliners, saying his pragmatic approach to diplomacy had stolen Israel's thunder.

After years of bellicose rhetoric from ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Zarif said the new government had managed to put an end to Israel's portrayal of Iran as "a danger" over its nuclear ambitions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday moved to defend his plans to enshrine Israel's status as the national homeland for the Jewish people in law.

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the aim was to "anchor" in law Israel's status and ensure it would remain a Jewish state following any peace deal with the Palestinians. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel will seek to anchor its status as a “Jewish state” in law.

"One of my main missions as prime minister of Israel is to bolster the status of the State of Israel as the national state of our people," Netanyahu said in a speech in Tel Aviv.

Israel and the Palestinians appeared determined Monday to seal their divorce as Washington's deadline for reaching a Mideast peace deal was to expire, leaving hopes for a breakthrough in tatters.

After more than a year of intensive shuttle diplomacy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with the initial aim of brokering a deal by April 29, Washington's patience appeared to be growing thin as both sides moved to distance themselves from the crisis-hit talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned anew on Sunday of a nuclear-powered Iran at the annual Holocaust memorial for the victims of the Nazi genocide, saying Tehran wants "our destruction."

"Iran is calling for our destruction, it is building underground bunkers to enrich uranium, producing heavy water for plutonium, acquiring intercontinental missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads that threaten the entire world," Netanyahu said.

Israel's security cabinet was to meet on Thursday morning to weigh its response to a unity deal struck between the Palestinian leadership and the Hamas rulers of Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to Wednesday's agreement between the rival factions accusing Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of choosing "Hamas, not peace".

Rival Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza Strip forged a new reconciliation agreement on Wednesday, angering Israel at a time when peace talks are at a standstill.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for choosing "Hamas, not peace", and a Netanyahu aide said he had called off a peace meeting with the Palestinians scheduled for Wednesday evening.