The flamboyant wife of Israeli Interior Minister Silvan Shalom published an "inappropriate joke" Sunday about U.S. President Barack Obama on her Twitter account, only to later delete it and apologize.

"Do u know what Obama Coffee is? Black and weak," Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes wrote to her 74,400 followers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handed responsibility for any future peace talks with the Palestinians to his new Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, an official said Monday.

"The prime minister has charged Silvan Shalom with conducting in his name the negotiations with the Palestinians," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Israel has called off an inquiry into alleged sex offenses by Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, an expected candidate for the presidency, the justice ministry announced Wednesday.

Attorney general Yehuda Weinstein said Shalom was immune from prosecution under Israel's statute of limitations, since an alleged incident dated back more than 10 years, the ministry said.

Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, tipped as a possible presidential candidate, was questioned by police Tuesday over what media said were suspicions of a 1999 sexual offense.

"He was questioned for two hours by the national unit of the Israeli police which deals with cases involving officials," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, tipped as a possible presidential candidate, has been accused of sexual assault against a female former employee, Israeli media reported on Monday.

The alleged victim, who worked for the now 55-year-old member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, has filed a complaint, the reports said.

The world's positive response to the latest nuclear talks with Iran drew bitter skepticism from Israel, which warned its Western allies Thursday they risked being duped into easing sanctions prematurely.

Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, a former foreign minister, went further, accusing the European Union and the United States of being more interested in the resumption of Iranian oil exports than with addressing an issue that Israel regards as a threat to its very existence.

Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is "fully determined" to try to halt sales by Russia of advanced missiles to Syria when he visits Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, a minister said Sunday.

A reported Russian plan to sell Damascus S-300 missile batteries "worries us at the highest level and the prime minister is fully determined that this contract should not be fulfilled," Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom, a member of the security cabinet, told public radio.

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom hinted on Sunday that any sign of Syrian chemical arms transfer to Hizbullah could trigger military strikes.

Shalom told Israel's Army Radio that should Hizbullah or rebels battling forces loyal to President Bashar Assad obtain chemical weapons, "it would dramatically change the capabilities of those organizations."

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday congratulated U.S. President Barack Obama on his re-election, saying ties between their two countries were "stronger than ever."

"The prime minister congratulates the president of the United States for his victory in the election," Netanyahu said in a statement. "The strategic alliance between Israel and the United States is stronger than ever."

A rocket and mortar rounds fired from Syria that hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in recent days were not aimed at the Jewish state, an Israeli minister said on Thursday.

"The fire was the result of inter-Syrian fighting and we have no intention of getting involved in that issue," Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom told Israeli public radio.