WASHINGTON — The White House was in damage-control mode Wednesday after a senior administration official was quoted as calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “chickens–t.”

“Comments like that do not reflect the administration’s view and we do believe that they are counterproductive,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who didn’t deny the reported origins of the comment.

The clean-up effort came after the barnyard quote — published by Jeffrey Goldberg, a prominent journalist on Middle East security — led coverage of most Israeli news outlets Wednesday.

Goldberg, who writes for Atlantic magazine, has interviewed President Obama and has high-level sources in the administration.

“The thing about Bibi is, he’s a chickens–t,” the unnamed senior official told Goldberg, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “The good thing about Netanyahu is that he’s scared to launch wars.”