whether he favored a onestate or twostate solution he replied i like the one that both parties like im very happy with the one that both parties like i can live with either onewhen mr netanyahu was asked his opinion he referred approvingly to the briefing by the white house before he arrivedi read yesterday that an american official said that if you ask five people what two states would look like youd get eight different answers he said mr president if you ask five israelis youd get 12 different answers but rather than deal with labels i want to deal with substancethe next day speaking at the united nations the american ambassador nikki r haley said that in fact the united states still absolutely supported the twostate solution for mr netanyahu that hardly mattered back home his trip was widely hailed as a successexperts on the israeliamerican relationship said the choreography bore the imprint of israels ambassador to the united states ron dermer and mr trumps soninlaw jared kushner who is taking a leading role in middle east policy for the administration the two speak regularly and were instrumental in setting up the visitamerican and israeli leaders have played in each others politics for a long time in 1996 president bill clinton gave prime minister shimon peres a ride on air force one during israels closely fought election campaign a week before the election mr clinton urged israelis to vote for peace that is for mr peres his opponent in that election was mr netanyahuin 2012 mr netanyahu welcomed mitt romney the republican presidential nominee to israel all but endorsing him in his campaign against former president barack obama mr netanyahus relationship with mr obama had been toxic for years because of disputes over the iran nuclear deal and the israeli governments settlement building in the west bankit is that relationship to which mr trump and mr netanyahu are eager to draw a contrast there is no question the two are closer on key issues not least the nuclear deal which they both stridently condemn although it is not clear either wants to rip it up immediatelyin its statement mr netanyahus office said the two leaders spoke at length about the dangers posed by the nuclear deal with iran and by irans malevolent behavior in the region and about the need to work together to counter those dangers the white house said only that the two leaders had discussed the need to counter continuing threats and challenges facing the middle east region though it took note of mr netanyahus gratitude for mr trumps statements against antisemitic actsso far experts said mr netanyahu had benefited more from the relationship than mr trumpsolving todays problems probably helps bibi more than trump in the short term said daniel c kurtzer a former american ambassador to israel and egypt using mr netanyahus nickname but in the larger picture of how israel is viewed in washington it probably helps trump as well