News stories by Pierre Klochendler, page 21

'And He said, Lay not thine hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God' (Genesis 22:12). Not so much in fear of God as in fear of their own conscience, Israeli leaders have given temporary relief to hundreds of children of foreign workers who were facing deportation with their parents.

Six months after Israel's devastating assault on Hamas, its south-western border with Gaza has not been as quiet in a decade - only two rockets in the past six weeks on Israeli towns. Yet, the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza continues to haunt Israel.

'Reckless', 'cavalier', 'unscrupulous', 'petty politician, not statesman' these and such epithets applied to Benjamin Netanyahu by friends and foes alike - not that he ended up with many friends - when he was first Israel's Prime Minister back in the late 1990s.

Israel's newly installed ambassador in Washington says the 'disagreement' with the U.S. over Israel's settlement policy will be resolved 'soon'. Speaking on Israel Radio, Michael Oren was giving his first interview since taking up his post.

A joke deriding U.S. President Barack Obama is said to be making the rounds in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau, according to Aluf Benn, the normally well-informed Ha'aretz diplomatic correspondent: 'What do Americans do when anything breaks down in their home - when the sink is blocked, the toilet overflows, or a fuse snaps? Simple: They ask Barack Obama to give a speech and the problem is solved.'

Israel continues to brush off allegations of human rights violations during its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza launched at the end of December. A series of reports on such violations through the 22-day campaign come soon after completion of fieldwork by the UN human rights four-person fact-finding team headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone.

What's a name, what's in a road name? History, ideology, nationalism.

Ambiguity - is it the watchword for all involved in the issue over whether Iran goes nuclear, especially in light of the ongoing political uncertainties that engulf the Islamic Republic?

The concerted effort of international human rights activists to rein in violations of laws of war was given a major impetus when Human Rights Watch researchers presented a report Tuesday on the unbridled use by the Israeli military of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCLAV), commonly known as drones, during Israel's 22-day assault on Hamas in Gaza at the beginning of the year.

In this Arab town in northern Israel, Michael Zantovsky, the Czech Republic ambassador, is throwing an end-of-term party, an event markedly different from customary diplomatic bashes.