Media Summary
17/11/2015
The Times, Telegraph, Independent, Evening Standard, Independent i and the online edition of the Guardian all report that Israeli troops were attacked in Qalandiya in the West Bank, as they attempted to demolish the home of a terrorist thought to have murdered an Israeli civilian. In the ensuing gun battle, two Palestinians were killed. The reports note that the incident highlights the ongoing debate over Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of terrorists as a deterrent to future would-be attackers.
The Telegraph online says that Israel’s Foreign Ministry has apologised after it publicly criticised comments from what proved to be a fake Twitter account, which purported to belong to an advisor to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The social media post accused Israel of perpetrating the Paris terror attacks on Friday. The report says that the incident underscores the Israeli government’s suspicion of Corbyn.
The Guardian online says that Corbyn and Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn differ over tackling ISIS in Syria, with Benn refusing to rule out the possibility of greater UK military action, while Corbyn has apparently refused a free vote on the issue. The Financial Times says that Labour MPs have complained over Corbyn’s lack of clear strategy.
The Guardian online reports that France’s President Francois Hollande has announced increased air strikes against ISIS in Syria, declaring that “France is at war” and will seek to create a global “union” against ISIS. The online editions of the Guardian and Times both report that Prime Minister David Cameron has indicated that gaps are closing with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin over Syria, with the Russian premier indicating that he could back Syrian opposition forces against ISIS with air support. The Financial Times online says that Putin has been transformed from an outcast to become the centre of attention at the recent G20 summit.
The online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph report that Iranian police have warned that women who drive without a veil could receive a fine and see their vehicles impounded for a week.
The Independent i covers the unveiling of a 1,700-year-old mosaic in the central Israeli city of Lod, which dates back to Roman times.
In the Israeli media, there is still a major focus on the reaction to Friday’s terror attacks in Paris. Haaretz and Maariv both lead with comments made yesterday by France’s President Francois Hollande, who delivered a major address to parliament. Meanwhile, Israel Hayom says that Europe’s major challenge is how to “clean out” ISIS strongholds. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Eldad Beck condemns “Anyone who distinguishes between ‘legitimate terror’ against Israel and ‘barbarian terror’ against the West, sows, with their own two hands, horrific bloody violence, the kind that stuns Paris and all of Europe, over and over.”
The top story in Yediot Ahronot is a vote in the Knesset yesterday which approved in a first reading, a new law which would further delay the increased military draft of ultra-Orthodox seminary students. Although a law was passed in the last parliament which would speed up the process, the current legislation being considered would effectively postpone the process for a further three years. However, the new law must still pass second and third Knesset readings.
Haaretz and Israel Radio news both cover a compromise which appears to have been reached between the government and protestors at the site of a synagogue in the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze’ev. Built on private Palestinian land, the High Court ordered that the synagogue be demolished, but protestors have threatened unrest should such a move take place. However, an agreement yesterday apparently averted the prospect of violence, with protestors leaving the site after the government agreed to re-build the synagogue on adjacent land owned by the local council.