My Japanese daughter-in-law refuses to return to Israel from vacationing in Japan with our grandson claiming it is unsafe because of the Israeli- Hamas conflict this Summer. Our son is devasted.What legal steps can be taken to get our grandchild back?

Fortunately, earlier in 2014, Japan joined the states that are bound by the 1980 Hague Convention on the International Aspects of Child Abduction (which Israel adopted earlier, in 1991). Therefore, acts of wrongful removal or wrongful retention of children under 16, between Israel and Japan, that took place in the Summer of 2014, are covered by this piece of international legislation. Your son can initiate legal proceedings against his wife for the return of his child under the Hague Covention.