we have a large center party, lapid, this new rising star. then to his left is tzipi livni who was the only candidate to campaign on the two-state solution. he only got 56. >> brown: somehow they all worked together or were supposed to work together. >> there's a special glue on the seats of israeli cabinet chairs which kind of keep them stuck there for a while at least. they have to respond to their constituency. that is the key point here. their constituents wants them to focus on domestic issues, social issues, on sharing the burden of getting the ultraorthodox serving the army. those are the primary issues that they're going to have to deal with. >> brown: david makovsky, what do you see? >> basically both president obama and netanyahu were elected on a more domestic platform. martin is 100% right in the way he depicted it. basically the israelis see the middle east and see things very murky, very tumultuous, uncertain. they don't feel they have an ability to shape this middle east. they don't know where egypt is going. they don't know if

you say no, lapid is there. people who may not have the same experience, but maybe our counterpoints to some of the other forces. what is unclear to me yet is to what extent that for rum -- forum, how central is that going to be? what will that knowledge and deficit of experience mean? he definitely sees that his goal is that israel be a normal country than the middle class has a better quality of life, it sounds familiar to people here. the road to that is dealing with the palestinian issue. everything has to work this out. i don't know what that means. and it gave an interview and was quoted, when the reporter asked him about iran, he said, i have no clue. this is a guy on the inner sanctum of israel. he says, i have no clue. i just wonder how this constellation is going to configure itself. i would hope that a lot of time, the foreign diplomats, whether it is in europe, our country, that we spend a lot of time with these new people then be sitting around the table. the central factor, i don't want to go to me

lapid and bennett, both of whom are not focused in the main on foreign policy and security issues but on social and economicnes so it's a paradox, in order to maintain his relevance as a foreign policy national security guy-- which is his strong suit-- the fact is he does need a better relationship with obama because obama holds the key on that front, certainly on iran. >> reporter: speaking of iran-- and i'll come back to that relationship-- is what the president saided in an interview with israeli television, will that comfort israelis? >> it certainly should comfort israelis. after all, the record suggests that the administration has worked very, very hard on the iranian challenge and the president has said that take my word, we're not interested in containing iran, we're interested in preventing iran from developing nuclear technology. i think it should assuage israelis who are concerned about this issue i wonder why-- and this seems to be part of the conversation in washington-- that israelis need an american president to show some deep emotional attachment to affirm their rooted