During his visit to Israel last December, Carter said he gained the impression that Israelis had felt betrayed by the US.

Preparing to host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week, the president's aides also cast doubt on the prospect of direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leadership.

White House officials have previously said they are prepared to increase foreign military financing and defense aid to Israel, but have not specified to what extent.

According to Consul-General of Israel in New York Ido Aharoni, under Obama and Netanyahu, the bond between Israel and the United States has never been stronger.

“The goal is to make a strong statement that New York stands with Israel and any effort to undermine the legitimacy of our strongest ally in the region will not be successful,” said Gianaris.

"There's a possibility that there was a bomb on board. And we're taking that very seriously," Obama said in a radio interview.

Beduin supporters opposed the bill, saying the legislation would result in up to 40,000 Beduin losing their land.

Israel and the US need to coordinate on monitoring, on sharing intelligence to get a clear picture of exactly what the Iranians are – and are not – doing.