The extreme weather conditions which have pounded Israel and other countries in the region this week is the subject of brief articles and photo montages in the Times, Evening Standard, Independent, Telegraph and Independent i this morning. Many include images of a snow-covered Jerusalem, while the Evening Standard focuses on a picture of Netanyahu participating in a snow fight with his family.

Both the Guardian and Independent i this morning report on a car bomb which exploded yesterday in central Tel Aviv. Israel’s police said that the attack was suspected to have been an assassination attempt on a notorious leader of organised crime in Israel. Four people were lightly injured and a bus was damaged in the explosion.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph covers an extensive interview of Israel’s President Shimon Peres that was published this week in the New York Times magazine. Peres warned that if there is no diplomatic solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, then terror and violence will return to Israel. He also suggested that US President Obama is not convinced that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shares his ambitions for peace in the region.

The Financial Times and the online edition of the Telegraph report on Foreign Secretary William Hague’s announcement to the House of Commons yesterday that the government will press the European Union to amend the current arms embargo on Syria to allow equipment such as body armour and chemical detectors to be sent to opposition forces fighting the regime of President Assad. Hague also said that an additional £2million in “non-lethal” support for Assad’s opponents has been released and he refused to rule out eventually helping to arm the opposition forces. The Times notes that US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has ruled out sending US ground troops into Syria, but said that the US government is anxious to secure Syria’s chemical weapons if necessary and was discussing with Israel how to tackle a “chaotic vacuum” in the event of Assad’s downfall. Meanwhile, the Independent online reports that Assad’s government has accused the United Nations and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi of “flagrant bias” following Brahimi’s comments this week in a BBC interview in which he said that the Assad family had ruled Syria “a little bit too long.”

In the Israeli media, yesterday’s snowstorm that covered Jerusalem and other areas features heavily on the front pages. Yediot Ahronot leads with the headline “The Days of White,” while Israel Hayom declares “Jerusalem of White.” Away from this week’s extreme weather conditions, this morning’s dailies focus on the election, which is just eleven days away, with almost every newspaper including a new poll. However, the surveys show varying results with little discernible pattern emerging. Yediot Ahronot’s poll conducted by the Dahaf Institute indicates that support for the joint Likud-Beitenu list has remained stagnant at 33 seats, while support for Jewish Home has increased by two seats since the last poll to 14 mandates. However, a Maagar Mohot poll in Maariv suggests the opposite trend, with Likud-Beitenu increasing its support to the equivalent of 38 seats while support for Jewish Home remains unchanged on 13 seats. However, all of this morning’s polls place the Labour Party in second place, set to win 16-18 seats. Most polls indicate that Yesh Atid will win 11 seats, with Shas ranging between 9-12 seats and Hatnuah between 7-9 seats.

In other news, Haaretz and Maariv report prominently on the car bomb that exploded yesterday in central Tel Aviv, injuring up to seven civilians. The reports speculate that the attack was an assassination attempt on Nissim Alperon, reportedly a notorious figure in Israel’s criminal underworld. Both newspapers also cover the announcement yesterday that two Israeli films have been nominated for an Oscar as best documentary. “The Gatekeepers” profiles and interviews former heads of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, while “5 Broken Cameras” documents life in a Palestinian village near the West Bank security fence.