Defense Minister Ehud Barak emphasized the extreme importance of his and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit to the US before flying back to Israel on Tuesday night.

"The visit of myself and Prime Minister Netanyahu to Washington and the White House was very important," he said. "We're leaving no stone unturned in our quest to resume peace negotiations."

Barak said that during the visit, the "contribution of US President Obama's leadership" to the Middle East peace process, as well as to Israel's security, "once again became clear."

The defense minister stressed that Obama was attentive to Israel's security needs.