certainly, but also now in diplomatic field as the prime minister and the president discuss ways, concrete ways of moving forward from proximity talks of the israelis and the palestinians to direct talks. >> i guess the question is, in this relationship between u.s. and israel, which is a very strong relationship, but over these past few month, someone blinked. was it the obama administration or the netanyahu government? >> neither. i think we communicated with each other very, very closely, intensely, in an atmosphere of friendship and constructive thinking. and we came to understand each other in a much deeper level. look at how we we handled the gaza flotilla issue. and how we in close consultation facilitated the flow of goods into gaza. >> why don't you do it earlier? >> there were people who wanted to do it earlier, but a huge process, and again, it is a great litmus of our alliance that, together, we were able to make this transition. and, keep in mind, today, the president not only appreciated, publicly, the prime minister's