when joe biden was visiting israel. when he was there, israel announced and approved nud housing units for jewish settlements in eastern jerusalem in direct defiance of the administration's request israel not do that to move the peace process forward. where are we now, wolf, what do you make of the tensions in the long-standing relationship? i think it's clear, tony, there are serious tensions in this relationship and it's been obvious in the last few weeks. the israelis apologized for embarrassing vice president joe biden. he had just come to israel. he was trying to patch up the relationship. they were pleased that the special middle east envoy george mitchell had finally after all the months convinced the israelis and the palestinians to begin what were called the proximity talks, not direct negotiations, but he would shuttle between ramallah and the west bank and jerusalem in israel and try to get some sort of diplomatic dialogue going. things were moving in the right