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Media Summary

07/12/2015

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The Daily Mail says that the weekend knife attack at Leytonstone tube station, which police have classified as a terror attack, has sparked fears of a possible “knife intifada” similar to the current wave of violence targeting Israelis. The article also covers two attacks on Friday which wounded two Israeli soldiers in the latest stabbings.

The Independent includes a feature on the closure of three Palestinian radio stations in Hebron by Israeli forces, on the grounds that they are inciting violence. Although some Palestinians argue that such measures fuel further violence, others are quoted saying that the stations in question have been glorifying attacks against Israelis.

The Financial Times online covers comments made yesterday by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told his cabinet that “Israel will not be a binational state.” His comments were a response to US Secretary of State John Kerry, who told the Saban Forum at the Brookings Institute in Washington DC that the lack of progress in peace talks could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA), leaving Israel in control of the West Bank and in effect a binational state.

The Financial Times print edition includes an article on controversy surrounding new government proposed rules over pension funds, which say that it is inappropriate for trustees to make overtly political decisions such as boycotting Israeli companies.

The Independent i reports that Egyptian gas companies have been ordered by an international tribunal to pay Israel’s electric company £1.1 billion in compensation, after Egyptian gas supplies to Israel were curtailed in 2012 following numerous attacks on gas supply lines in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Times says that Defence Secretary Michael Fallon declared a “new phase” in the offensive against ISIS during a visit to an RAF base in Cyprus. He said that increased air strikes in Syria would place the RAF further towards the centre of the international coalition against ISIS. Meanwhile, the online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph report that at least 32 ISIS members are thought to have been killed by coalition planes in weekend air strikes near the stronghold of Raqqa.

In the Israeli media, Israel Hayom leads with a terror attack yesterday in Jerusalem, which saw a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem ram his car into two pedestrians, before exiting the vehicle and attempting to stab a volunteer policeman. Three people were lightly wounded in the attack, while the assailant was chased and shot dead by a soldier from the Kfir Brigade.

Maariv leads with the response to comments made by US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Saban Forum over the weekend. An unnamed Israel government official is quoted saying “Everyone is busy counting down until another president is elected in the United States, so Kerry can say whatever he wants until then.” Commenting in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea brands Kerry’s comments a “whiney, sanctimonious and preachy speech” and says that “The Middle East, including Israel, doesn’t need an American secretary of state who is good at preaching morality. It needs an effective secretary of state.” Haaretz highlights comments made at the Saban Forum by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who warned that the alternative to Palestinian Authority rule in the West Bank may be ISIS.

Israel Radio news reports this morning that Israel’s Air Force struck Hamas infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, in response to two incidents over the weekend in which Israeli forces on the Gaza border came under fire. However, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot emphasised that the period since Operation Protective Edge has been the quietest in southern Israel for 15 years, a situation the IDF is working to maintain.