“AFAIK the Israelis never so much as said thank you.”
You mean besides awarding Nixon and Kissenger the highest award Israel can award to a foreign citizen, right?
Or this toast from the Knesset Dinner:
Prime Minister Golda Meir. To Golda.
MRS. MEIR. “As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing. All I can say, Mr. President, as friends and as an Israeli citizen to a great American President, thank you.”
.....
President Katzir’s remarks were as follows:
“Mr. President, Mrs. Nixon, Secretary Kissinger, honored guests:
We meet this evening in the great hall of the Knesset, the legislative body of the State of Israel......
Mr. President, we have had to do so much in so little time. And while we have been building, we have had to sacrifice much to safeguard our freedom. Certainly in this we shall never falter. At the same time, in our quest for peace with security, we shall always remember the moral and material support we received from the greatest democracy in the world, the United States of America. Therefore, Mr. President, Israel salutes you. It does so in gratitude and appreciation. It does so because of your special, historic role in giving strength to an historic people. True friendship is tested in times of trial, and you, Mr. President, have demonstrated this magnificently. Your understanding, your concern, your deeds in support of our defense and our freedom have contributed greatly to the strength of Israel to defend herself through her own efforts. And a strong Israel is in itself a component of the peace and stability in our area to which your mission is dedicated......”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/Nixon_Israel3.html
I was happy to read the official “thank you” from Israel.
Not many countries do that.
The Saudis treated me nicer than the British, for example.