I worked in an org with offices in America, India, Europe, and Israel, and it was not uncommon for the American employees to be put off by the directness of the foreign employees. It was often interpreted as rudeness, to the surprise of the speaker. This happened to the Israel employees more than the India or Europe employees, at least in part because the India/Europe employees usually tried to adapt to the behavior expected by the Americans, while the Israel employees largely took pride in their bluntness.

As someone with Israeli family ... they report that Americans are not the only ones who react to them like this.