For the first time in years, there is “no daylight” between the governments of Israel and the United States, Israel’s ambassador to the US told the annual AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday.

The governments of Israel and the United States are experiencing a nearly unprecedented level of intimacy, Ron Dermer said, in what was clearly an implicit criticism of relations with previous US administrations.

“For the first time in many years, perhaps even many decades, there is no daylight between our two governments,” Dermer declared to the thousands-strong crowd of pro-Israel participants.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference draws over 18,000 activists and policymakers every year. It is often seen as a benchmark of relations between Israel and American Jewry, and hosts the biggest names and movers in the world of Israel advocacy. President Donald Trump headlined last year’s conference.

This year’s conference included an address by Vice President Mike Pence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will also make a speech by video from Jerusalem. Dozens of bipartisan leaders of Congress are in attendance, including Speaker Paul Ryan.

In Dermer’s speech to the opening session, the diplomat hinted that the warmth of the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu has already far surpassed that of the latter’s cooler ties with former President Barack Obama.

He described last month’s parley between the two leaders as a “meeting of the minds”.