Israel's foreign minister said yesterday that the consul general in Boston should resign if he can't support Israeli government policies - but stopped short of saying he would fire Nadav Tamir over his internal memo criticizing his country's approach to US relations.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, speaking in Jerusalem, was quoted as telling a meeting of officials in the Foreign Ministry that "if someone is not happy and can't live with government policy, the way is not to criticize and leak but to resign. With all due respect to the consul . . . it is not his job to express political positions.''

Lieberman has ordered Tamir to return to Israel this week to explain his memo critical of Israel's handling of its relations with the United States, which caused a firestorm in Israel after it was leaked to the media last week. Lieberman faults Tamir not only for the content of the memo but for distributing it internally, making it all but certain to be leaked.

It was evident that Tamir, who is respected by mainstream Jewish groups in Boston as well as colleagues in Israel's foreign ministry, has become entangled in a larger debate among Jews in Israel and the United States over which country is responsible for the growing tensions between them...