WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama denied a crisis was rocking US-Israeli relations as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived today in Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East quartet.

Obama’s first public comments on the showdown came yesterday.

Obama was conciliatory when asked in an interview with Fox News if there was a “crisis” in US-Israeli relations. “No,” Obama answered. “We and the Israeli people have a special bond that’s not going to go away. But friends are going to disagree sometimes.”