(JTA) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the relationship between the United States and Israel should return to a “constructive footing.” Clinton, who is expected to announce her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election, made the comments in a telephone conversation with Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Presidents Conference said in a statement issued Sunday, March 29. “Secretary Clinton thinks we need to all work together to return the special U.S.-Israel relationship to constructive footing, to get back to basic shared concerns and interests, including a two-state solution pursued through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians,” Hoenlein, who initiated the conversation, said in the statement. It was Clinton’s first comments on the U.S.-Israel relationship since Israeli national elections earlier this month returned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to office.