Israel

Shorty needed a ride home. She got confused sometimes, the result of some undefined mental condition, and wasn't always sure where she'd wandered. Her family knew this about Michelle "Shorty" Knight, all 4 feet 7 inches of her, and that's why they worried. She got in a car. It begins there, with that simple act, a 21-year-old — in many ways still very much a girl — got in a car. Aug. 22, 2002. If she'd looked up in that last moment of freedom, she would have seen a...

WASHINGTON — Two conservative religious groups say they were also the subject of unusual scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service. The son of the Rev. Billy Graham as well as leaders of Z Street, a conservative Jewish organization, have said they believe they were pressed by the IRS for more information because they advocated for conservative causes. In a letter Tuesday to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, the Rev. Franklin Graham said charities built by his...

Concerned about Egypt's political instability and the U.S. budget crunch, a growing number of American lawmakers are challenging the wisdom of providing $1.3 billion a year in military aid to Cairo, arguing that the policy is overdue for a wholesale review. Lawmakers say that Washington's largess, which includes large fleets of M1A1 tanks and F-16 fighter jets, could backfire, given the unpredictability of Egypt's Islamist-led government and its fraught relationship with Israel. Washington's...

JERUSALEM — Israel's military says stray mortar shells from the fighting in Syria have struck a popular tourist site, Mt. Hermon in the Golan Heights. The military says the shells struck early on Wednesday, apparently landing on an empty ski slope. Mortar shells have landed in the Golan before but this was the first time they hit Mt. Hermon, a site popular with Israeli tourists in wintertime. The military says it didn't fire back but temporarily closed Mt Hermon for visitors.

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank closely aligned with the White House, is embroiled in a dispute with several Jewish organizations over charges that some center staffers have publicly used language that could be construed as anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic. The controversy could add to divisions over Middle East policy among groups that are key political allies of President Obama, potentially complicating the president's reelection outreach to some Jewish voters, just...

As missiles and rockets exploded in Israel and Gaza , television news was dominated by the tragic violence, and we were warned that the battle between Israel and the Palestinians might spread because we are in a new and much more dangerous Middle East. Islamists are in power, democracies will listen to their people. In fact, as the relatively quick cease-fire between the parties shows, there is a very low likelihood of a broader regional conflict. It's true that we're in a new Middle East, but it's one in which Israel...

The June 27 letter "Israel as mentor on foreign policy" praised Israel's "dignified" response to Egypt's election of an Islamist leader. Oh? May I ask what other option Israel has? Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, did not express admiration for democratic votes when the Palestinians elected a Hamas leader to protect them from further oppression by Israel. How easy it was for Israel to pick on the Palestinians. Not so without longtime president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.

In his Nov. 23 op-ed column, " Why was there war in Gaza ," Charles Krauthammer wondered "why, given that there is no occupation of Gaza anymore," would there be any reason for war there. Would that he were correct that there is no longer any occupation of Gaza. Unfortunately, Israel occupies Gaza now as surely as when it had its settlements there. Gaza has been turned into an open-air prison, with all its borders — land, sea and air — controlled by Israel. If, for example, Egypt had the power to contain Israel in a similar...

In his May 17 Fine Print column, " Is the U.S. going too far to help Israel? ," Walter Pincus asked: "Should the United States put solving Israel's budget problems ahead of its own?" First, as Mr. Pincus probably knows, serious fiscal responsibility means dealing with burgeoning entitlement costs, far more than showy penny-pinching on the comparatively smaller rest of the budget. Second, U.S. contributions toward Israel's Iron Dome rocket defense program enable Israel to avoid preemptive assaults on Iran and its clients.

Regarding Lisa Miller's Oct. 1 On Faith column, "In a season of introspection, coming to terms with Israel" : There is a silent majority of American Jews who are not represented by this "Israel-centered" enterprise. They are critical of efforts to tell them that Israel is their "homeland" and that the highest expression of their faith is to make "aliyah," to emigrate to that state. Judaism is a religion of universal values, not a nationality, and...

AMSTERDAM — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court — the permanent war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands — says she has received a complaint about Israel's 2010 raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza, and she will open a preliminary investigation. The complaint comes from the tiny African state of Comoros, a member of the court, though Israel is not. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she met Tuesday with lawyers from a Turkish law firm that is...

israel Military grounds fleet of drones after crash Israel's military has grounded a fleet of high-altitude surveillance drones after one was downed over the Mediterranean Sea. The military says it intentionally crashed the unmanned aircraft late Saturday because of a malfunction. The military would not say how many aircraft were grounded. The planes will stay down while an investigation is conducted. A defense official said the drone was the Israeli-made Heron 1, which flies at high altitudes...

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek alternate sleeping arrangements when traveling after receiving a sky-high bill for installing a customized bed on a recent flight to London, officials close to the Israeli leader said. Netanyahu found himself facing a public uproar on Sunday after Channel 10 TV reported over the weekend that he had spent $127,000 in public funds on a special sleeping cabin for the five-hour flight to attend Margaret Thatcher's funeral last month.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian rebels on Sunday released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation might pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, a Syrian official said President Bashar Assad's troops have the right to enter the Israeli-occupied Golan whenever they wish — a veiled threat toward Israel to stay out of Syria's conflict. Also Sunday, Damascus rejected Turkey's...

ROME — ROME — Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the transfer of advanced missile defense systems from Russia to Syria would be a "destabilizing" factor for Israel's security. Kerry said the U.S. has expressed concerns about what such defensive systems in Syria would mean for Israel's security. He wouldn't address what the missiles might mean for Syria's civil war. He spoke to reporters in Rome after the Wall Street Journal reported that Russia was...

JERUSALEM — Israel has asked Russia to cancel an imminent sale of an advanced air defense system to Syria that could complicate further military intervention, Israeli security officials confirmed Thursday. The officials said Israel shared information with the United States in hopes of persuading Russia to halt the planned deal to provide S-300 antiaircraft missiles. Disclosing the deal, the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to...

On this 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, we look back at The Post editorial board's reaction to Israel's declaration of independence, President Truman's speedy recognition and the violent response of neighboring Arab states. The State of Israel May 16, 1948 President Truman's haste in recognizing the de facto authority of the provisional government set up in the new Jewish state in Palestine caused temporary consternation in the United Nations General Assembly and surprise throughout the world.

President Obama is " Tough on Israel "? You've got to be joking. Mr. Obama won't even talk to the duly elected representative of the Palestinians, Hamas, and has said precious little and done nothing about Israel's three-year siege of the 1.5 million residents of Gaza and Israel's apartheid wall through the West Bank. Tough on Israel? All the president has done is call for Israel to refrain from building more illegal settlements on Palestinian land. JOHN McGRANE Arlington

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A prominent Islamic scholar making a landmark visit to the Gaza Strip declared Thursday that Israel has no right to exist and voiced his support for rocket fire on Israel, giving a boost of legitimacy to the militant Islamist Hamas rulers of the Palestinian territory. Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the latest of a few high profile figures visit Gaza, boosting the Hamas effort to break its international isolation. The U.S., EU and Israel brand Hamas a terror group, while the rival...