The Times, Telegraph, Independent, Independent i and the online edition of the Guardian all cover yesterday’s verdict at Israel’s Supreme Court, which saw five justices reduce former-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s prison sentence on appeal from 6 years to 18 months, having been convicted of bribery in the so-called ‘Holyland’ affair. Olmert will become the first Israeli premier to serve jail time when he begins his sentence on 15 February.

The Telegraph online reports that the Israeli-anti settlement group Peace Now says that Israel’s Housing Ministry is planning thousands of new units in the West Bank, including the controversial E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. Peace Now says it received the information following a freedom of information request. However, Israeli officials have said that the plans are merely a proposal and insisted that the Housing Ministry has no authority to approve such construction.

In a separate article, the Telegraph online reports that Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has filed a police complaint against a Hebrew University lecturer who called her “neo-Nazi scum” via social media. The comment was made in relation to a bill which Shaked is spearheading which would restrict the activities of NGOs which are often critical of the government. The controversial legislation was approved on Sunday by the relevant ministerial committee and will come to an initial Knesset vote as early as today.

The Telegraph online also says that Iran’s navy fired test rockets last week near three Western ships, including a US warship at the Straits of Hormuz, an historic flashpoint in US-Iran relations. The article quotes an anonymous US official, who called the test fire “highly provocative.” Meanwhile, writing in the Times, Roger Boyes contends that July’s nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) is a “flawed deal based on a poor understanding of the actual intentions of the Iranian regime.” He says that Iranian hardliners, who deplore the deal and the West, are in the ascendency. As a result, the accord could make the region “more, not less dangerous.”

Meanwhile, the Times reports that Israeli data tracking company Trendit, which uses mobile data to track the movement of crowds, is planning to float on the London Stock Exchange.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom is the 18-month prison sentence handed yesterday to former-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea says that “this spells an end to Olmert’‎s hope to return to the public arena.  A political career of about 50 years has ended.” Meanwhile, also in Yediot Ahronot, Ben-Dror Yemini praises the legal system, which he says has demonstrated that nobody is above the law. He comments that “‎If this was a test—‎the law enforcement system passed it with flying colours.”

Meanwhile, a major story in Yediot Ahronot and Israel Radio news is a Wall St Journal report, which claims that US intelligence agencies spied on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conversations regarding the Iran nuclear deal. The report suggests that Netanyahu’s calls to US lawmakers and officials were wiretapped as he looked to influence their votes in the US Congress over the agreement. It has previously been alleged that Israel spied on the US talks with Iran when they took place earlier this year.

Israel Radio news also reports a response by Netanyahu’s office to the Peace Now report on the Housing Ministry’s plans for construction in the E1 area of the West Bank. The Prime Minister’s Office said that former-Housing Minister Uri Ariel, considered one of Jewish Home’s strongest settlement supporters, had initiated the construction plan but had no authority to carry it out.