Barack Obama’s first visit to Israel as President of the United States is not breaking a lot of new ground, but the two countries are making a public show of their strong ties.

At a joint news conference, President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu basically agreed on everything:  Israel’s right to defend itself; Iran must not get nuclear weapons; Both are committed to the two-state solution to resolve Palestinian grievances; Both say the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war is unacceptable,

In fact, Netanyahu seemed to band over backwards to be a god host, especially after being seen as favoring Obama’s republican opponent in last year’s election.  "Bibi" gushed his thanks to Obama for standing by Israel, and for being generous with defense technology.  That was a far cry from last year when the Israeli PM seemed to be pushing the U.S. towards a war with Iran.

Obama visits Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.  Afterwards he will address Israeli students.