have mended fences today, offered reassurances to the american israel public affairs committee or aipac which describes itself as america's leading pro-israel lobby group. obama stressed his fundamental support for the jewish state. >> no country can be expected to negotiate with a terrorist organization sworn to its destruction. we will continue to demand that hamas accept the basic responsibilities of peace, including recognizing israel's right to exist and recognizing -- rejecting ri violence and adhering to all existing agreements. >> cnn's senior u.s. state department producer elise is in washington. elise, before we get to obama's verbal messages this was a confident president. did a rather warm interaction between president obama and the aipac president, lee rosenberg, set a tone. >> i think, fred, president obama knew he had to do a certain amount of cleanup from