The high voter turnout also confounded critics as the Israeli public "turned out to be far more engaged than many had imagined," wrote Josh Block, CEO and president of the nonpartisan Israel Project.

Syria's humanitarian crisis As many as 20,000 Syrian refugees flooded Jordan this week, according to the nation's foreign minister and refugee officials.

There are now nearly 700,000 people who have fled Syria for neighboring countries, straining resources in places like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

CNN's Ivan Watson visited a refugee camp in Turkey where a U.S. delegation arrived Thursday. He had an exclusive interview with the U.S. ambassador to Syria, who described how the U.S. has given $210 million in humanitarian aid and $35 million to help the Syrian political opposition.

"The assistance is going in," Ambassador Robert Ford said. "It's things like tents, it's things like blankets, it's things like medical equipment, but it doesn't come in big boxes with an American flag on it because we don't want the people who are delivering it to be targeted by the Syrian regime."

Ford said the needs are gigantic and that much more aid is needed, but he stressed that even with help from the U.S. and other countries, "it has to be Syrians who find their way forward."

Other notable stories from this past week:

-- Britain's Prince Harry reveals that he killed Taliban militants during his tour in Afghanistan. He also spoke out for the first time about his notorious Las Vegas trip and the nude photographs that surfaced.

-- People from northern Mali share harrowing stories about the cruel punishments now being inflicted by Islamist militants there.

-- A journalist embedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan describes how the troops are using a "tough love" approach, stepping back so that their Afghan counterparts have no choice but to assume more responsibility and take over the fight.

-- A 56-year-old British woman caught carrying more than 10 pounds of cocaine in her suitcase has been sentenced to death in Indonesia.