"Our friendship will weather the current disagreement … to grow even stronger in the future," he said in an address to the annual conference of the America Israel Political Action Committee on Monday morning, the eve of his controversial address to Congress.

Mr Netanyahu said that while American leaders worry about their nation's security, Israel's feared for their nation's survival, and this differing point of view had lead to disagreements between the two nations in the past.

But he said America's and Israel's shared values were stronger than their divisions.

"In a dark, and savage, and desperate Middle East, Israel is a beacon of humanity, of light, and of hope," he said, in a speech often interrupted by the applause of an audience that represented some of the most powerful in America on both sides of politics.

"Israel and the United States will continue to stand together because America and Israel are more than friends. We're like a family."

Mr Netanyahu's speech to Congress has caused profound concern to many, including champions of the alliance.

Mr Netanyahu was invited to address Congress by the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who broke convention by not informing the White House.

In the US system the president is granted sole authority over foreign affairs.

Mr Netanyahu is expected to use the speech as part of his effort to derail negotiations between leading nations and Iran over its nuclear program, one of the administration's highest priorities.

While the negotiating parties – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany – appear willing to allow Iran to maintain some peaceful nuclear capacity, Mr Netanyahu wants to see their entire nuclear program dismantled.

The speech is being given just a fortnight before the Israeli elections, leading many to speculate that Mr Netanyahu is risking his nation's most crucial alliance for domestic political gain.

Mr Obama will not meet with Mr Netanyahu, and around 30 Democratic representatives from Congress have said they will not attend the speech, including the Vice President, Joe Biden, who also serves as President Pro Tem, or president of the Senate.

"It's forcing people who are otherwise pro-Israel to have to decide between sitting there and seeming to endorse Bibi's [Mr Netanyahu]'s case or boycotting the speech and getting smacked around politically," one angry member of Congress told Foreign Policy magazine.

The discord has snowballed as the event approached.

Last week Mr Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, told an interviewer, "What has happened over the last several weeks — by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the speaker and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu two weeks in advance of his election — is that on both sides, there has now been injected a degree of partisanship," Ms Rice said.

"It's destructive [to] the fabric of the relationship."

In response over the weekend the controversial reality TV figure and failed Republican candidate Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, took out a full page advertisement depicting Ms Rice surrounded by skulls and declaring she was blind to genocide.

American Jewish groups almost unanimously condemned the ad in harsh terms, calling it "revolting," "grotesque," "spurious and perverse," "outrageous," "abhorrent," and a "sinister slur." Marshall Wittman, a spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, "Ad hominem attacks should have no place in our discourse."

Concern has not been limited to the United States. A group representing senior Israel Defense Forces officers said the planned speech constituted a threat to Israel's safety.

"The way to prevent a nuclear Iran is by strengthening the alliance between the countries, between the US and Israel, and between Israel and the international community," said Major General (reserve) Amnon Reshef, head of the group called Commanders for Israel's Security, during a press conference in Israel on Sunday.

"It's already impossible to conceal the rift with the Americans, and it's impossible to accept such a rift. We believe that this constitutes a clear and present danger to Israel's security."

Addressing AIPAC on Monday morning Mr Netanyahu appeared conciliatory.

"Let me clarify what is not the purpose of that speech. My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both," he said.

"I deeply appreciate all that President Obama has done for Israel - security cooperation, intelligence sharing, support at the UN, and much more. Some things that I, as prime minister of Israel, cannot even divulge to you because it remains in the realm of the confidences that are kept between an American president and an Israeli prime minister."

Speaking to the conference after him, America's ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, also reaffirmed the friendship between the two nations.

She lamented the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and attacks on Israel in the United Nations.

"It is a false choice to tell Israel that it has to choose between peace on the one hand, and security on the other. The United Nations would not ask any other country to make that choice, and it should not ask it of Israel."

But she also noted, "Our commitments to our partnership with Israel are bedrock commitments, rooted in shared fundamental values, cemented through decades of bipartisan reinforcement."

Ms Rice is expected to address the conference on Monday evening in Washington, DC.