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Former Republican senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, possibly President Obama's top choice for Defense secretary, is drawing fire for his positions on Israel, Iraq and gay rights.

More than six decades since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls - and thousands of years after they were written - Israel on Tuesday put 5,000 images of the ancient biblical artifacts online in a partnership with Google.

Israeli officials said they would press on with plans this week to build 6,000 homes for settlers on land claimed by Palestinians, defying criticism from Western powers who fear the move will damage already faint hopes for a peace accord.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off world condemnation of Israel's plans to expand Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto U.N. recognition of statehood.

Israel said on Sunday it was withholding this month's transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, after the United Nations' de facto recognition of a Palestinian state.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reassured Israel of her country's support on Saturday, two days after Berlin disappointed the Jewish state by abstaining in a U.N. vote on the Palestinians' status.

The White House said on Friday a new Israeli settlement expansion plan was "counterproductive" and could make it harder to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a victory decades in the making for the Palestinians after years of occupation and war. It was a sharp rebuke for Israel and the United States....

After failing to head off a vote in the United Nations on Thursday that would upgrade the Palestinian Authority’s status, the United States and Israel are looking ahead to how they can contain the damage from the approval.

Israel also toned down threats of countermeasures after Thursday’s vote in the General Assembly, which is virtually certain to pass, aware that a harsh reaction would only isolate it further.