In the Times Donald Macintyre has written a feature about Marwan Barghouti’s ambition to lead the Palestinian Authority despite the fact he is serving multiple life sentences in an Israeli prison for murders committed during the second intifada. Macintyre interviewed Barghouti’s wife Fadwa and quotes the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research finding that Barghouti would beat Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in a Palestinian election by 58 to 37 per cent.

Reuters reports that Boeing has agreed to spend billions of dollars in Israel over the coming decade if it wins major defence contracts, Israel’s Economy Ministry said on Tuesday. The “reciprocal procurement” agreement calls for Boeing to collaborate with Israeli industries for at least 35 per cent of the value of any transaction it signs with the Israeli Government. This could ease concerns in Israel over new requirements in a US aid package that diverts funds away from local industries.

Business Insider via AP, and Reuters report on the municipal vote in Israel. In the closest watched race on Tuesday, four candidates are hoping to become the next mayor of Jerusalem — a city with great importance to billions of people around the world. Ofer Berkovitch, a young secular activist, is running against Moshe Lion, a longtime political activist, Cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, who is supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and ultra-Orthodox candidate Yossi Daitch. . Reuters reports that the race for mayor of Jerusalem was too close to call late on Tuesday and could require a runoff after no single candidate won enough votes to clinch victory, Israeli media reported. Secular candidate and former Deputy Mayor Ofer Berkovitch and Moshe Lion, who won support from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, emerged as front-runners, beating out two other leading contenders, and will likely face off in a second round, according to Israel’s Channel 13 and other leading news outlets. Reuters reports that hundreds of Druze Arabs, some carrying Syrian flags, gathered outside the gates of a polling station on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, trying to block their townspeople from voting in municipal elections.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that on Friday Netanyahu made an unannounced visit to Oman, where he met ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said. It marked the first visit by an Israeli leader in more than 20 years to the Gulf state, that has in the past facilitated negotiations between the US and Iran. “These were important talks, both for the state of Israel and very important talks for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday. “There will be more.” As he spoke, Culture Minister Miri Regev was in the United Arab Emirates with an Israeli delegation at a judo tournament – the scene of her happy tears after Israeli judoka Sagi Muki won the gold medal – and Netanyahu’s communications minister was headed to the UAE for a security conference.

The Daily Mail reports that Israel’s communications Minister Ayoub Kara called for “peace and security” on Tuesday during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, as his country launches an unprecedented diplomatic push into Gulf states. “Peace and security in every state… with economic and scientific progress is what guarantees a future for the coming generations,” Kara said at a telecommunications conference in Dubai. Kara’s statement comes amid a diplomatic push by Israel in the mainly Sunni Gulf, which Israel sees as an ally against Shiite power Iran.

The BBC, Independent, The Times and the Daily Mail report that Denmark has accused Iran’s intelligence agencies of planning to assassinate an Iranian activist on Danish soil. The BBC said the target was believed to be a member of an Arab separatist movement, Denmark’s intelligence service said. Denmark has recalled its ambassador from Tehran and is consulting other EU countries about imposing new sanctions against Iran. A massive police operation in Denmark last month linked to the case led to the bridge to Sweden being closed. Iran has dismissed Denmark’s allegations. The Times reports that a Norwegian with Iranian roots and had been arrested over the thwarted attack in Ringsted on September 28. The target is believed to have been the Danish leadership of al-Ahvaziya, a group that seeks independence for Khuzestan province in western Iran. The Independent reports that Danish security service chief Finn Borch Andersen told a news conference: “We are dealing with an Iranian intelligence agency planning an attack on Danish soil. Obviously, we can’t and won’t accept that.” The security chief added that police had arrested a Norwegian citizen of Iranian heritage on October 21 and he had denied wrongdoing in a court appearance. The Daily Mail reports that Denmark has recalled its ambassador to Iran after it accused Tehran of plotting a foiled “attack” against three Iranians living in the Scandinavian country. “I have decided to recall Denmark’s ambassador in Tehran for consultations … Denmark can in no way accept that people with ties to Iran’s intelligence service plot attacks against people in Denmark,” Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen told reporters. “It is the Iranian government, it is the Iranian state that is behind” the plot, Samuelsen said. He added that he was consulting with “partners and allies”, including the EU, about possible sanctions.

The FT and Reuters comment about the ramifications of US President Donald Trump’s Iranian sanctions. The FT reports that on 5 November, the US will impose curbs on Iran’s vital oil industry and on bank transactions as part of its commitment to reapply controls following Trump’s decision in May to abandon the landmark nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015. While the US is seeking to change the behaviour of the regime in Tehran, it is poor Iranians who are likely to bear the brunt of the sanctions. By restricting Tehran’s ability to export its oil, the next round of sanctions are expected to undercut Iran’s foreign currency earnings, weakening the rial further and stoking more inflation. The regime has not, however, found a way to tame inflation. Shoppers in markets and grocery stores had to pay 50 per cent more for their food in the month to 22 October than they did a year previously, Iran’s central bank said recently. Unemployment is also rising. Senior officials hope economic hardship will cow Iran’s leaders into changing their foreign policy. And while the Trump administration insists in public that sanctions are not intended to effect regime change in Tehran, senior officials regularly suggest that a wave of popular uprisings incited by economic discontent might make it impossible for the regime to continue. Growing public anger has sparked sporadic protests, including by retired government employees who have taken to the streets of several big cities recently to rail against low pensions. Reuters reports that US sanctions against Iran will have “severe consequences” for the world order, the Islamic republic said on Tuesday, days before new sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports take effect. Aaron Sheldrick, a reporter from Reuters, writes that oil prices climbed for the first time in three days on Wednesday, rising around 1 per cent ahead of the start of US sanctions against Iran next week and as stock markets clawed back some of the losses they racked up this month.

Reuters, the Independent and the Express reports about the global consequences on Saudi Arabia, due to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. Reuters reports that France will not rule out sanction against Saudi Arabia if its authorities are found to have been involved in the killing of Khashoggi, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday. The Independent report that Turkish and Saudi prosecutors are clashing over the investigation into the murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul four weeks ago.

Saudi Arabia continues to brush aside Turkish demands that 15 suspects allegedly involved in planning, executing, and covering up the murder be interrogated and tried in Turkey. In Ankara on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded greater cooperation from Saudi Arabia. Gulsen Solaker from Reuters reports that the Turkish lawyer looking into the death of Khashoggi has asked Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor to disclose who sent the team involved in the journalist’s killing, President Erdogan said on Tuesday. The Express reports that Khashoggi murder sparks US to demand Saudi Arabia to stop airstrikes in Yemen. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has demanded the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen stop using air strike in populated areas in the hopes of bringing an end to the conflict.

The Israeli media is dominated by coverage of the local elections that took place yesterday. Yediot Ahronot and Maariv focus on the races in the three major cities, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. Haifa saw the most dramatic result where outgoing Mayor for the last 15 years Yona Yahav was defeated by Einat Kalisch Rotem. She is the first female mayor in any of the three largest cities in Israel’s history. She was supported by the Labour Party and its chairman, Avi Gabbay. Rotem also received support from the left-wing Meretz party as well as the ultra-Orthodox. In Tel Aviv Mayor 74-year-old Ron Huldai, who has been mayor for the last 20 years, kept his seat and defeated his deputy, Asaf Zamir. Jerusalem will need a second round run-off in two weeks between Ofer Berkovitch a young secular candidate against Moshe Lion, who is supported by some of the ultra-Orthodox factions. Significantly, the Likud Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin who was supported by the Prime Minister came in third place. Kan radio news this morning reported that Lion said Jerusalem was not easily won, and that you had to work hard for it. He said that he would meet with all of the factions and start forming Jerusalem’s next coalition government. I promise that Jerusalem will be in a different place in five years, he said.  Berkovitch called on Elkin to join him in the run-off and lead a partnership of the Zionist public in Jerusalem. Elkin said that in politics, you sometimes had to know how to lose. He congratulated Berkovitch and Lion and pledged as minister for Jerusalem affairs to aid the winner and spare no effort to promote the capital. Haaretz focused on the Interior Ministry’s experiment to give people the day off work in an effort to increase voter turnout. The effort appears to have been a success as they report a 10 per cent increase compared to the 2013 elections.

Yediot Ahronot’s Ben- Dror Yemini writes, “it doesn’t matter what the absolute majority of residents think or want. Because sometimes, only sometimes, the majority is defeated. It doesn’t matter who is elected in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv will remain free and liberal. But in cities like Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, the local is the national. Because what is taking place there is liable to spread to more cities, i.e., a Haredi takeover of cities in which there is no Haredi majority.” He also notes the level of female representation, the “issue of women’s equality, is a litmus test for any society. In Tel Aviv, there are eight women on the outgoing city council out of 31 members. That’s pathetic. And if that is the situation in Israel’s most liberal city, what can we expect of other cities? The current Knesset, take note, is more egalitarian. It attained a record in women’s representation—34 versus 27 in the previous Knesset—and compared to 12 in the first Knesset. There are four women ministers in the current government, the same as in the previous government…. local authorities were meant to lead the change because it would appear that it would be easier to have more women’s representation at the local level. If Einat Kalish indeed won the Haifa elections, as seems to be the case at the time of this writing, this is indeed a step in the right direction.”

In other news, all the newspapers prominently cover a terrible car accident near the Dead Sea that led to eight people from the same family being killed. Yediot Ahronot publishes the names and ages of the Atar family, Yariv (45) and Shoshi (47) and their six children, Yaakov Yisroel (12), Ateres (11), Ayala (9), Moriah (7), Yedid (5) and Avigayil (3). This was the most lethal car accident in the last six years.

Israel Hayom prominently covers the death of Shas Minister for Religious Affairs David Azoulay after a lengthy illness. Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “For over two decades, David served as an MK and initiated many laws the purpose of which was to benefit the citizens of the state. He was an outstanding and industrious minister who brightened everyone’s face; he loved peace and pursued peace. I and the entire government will miss him.”

Yediot Ahronot reports on the latest round of diplomatic appointments. Amira Oron will be Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt. She will be the first female ambassador to Cairo. She is the second woman to serve as an ambassador in an Arab state after Einat Klein in Jordan. Oron is a veteran Israeli diplomat who speaks fluent Arabic and previously served as Israel’s ambassador to Turkey for two years. In an unprecedented decision, three other women were also chosen to serve as ambassadors. Other appointments include Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon as ambassador in Brussels.

Israel Hayom reports that the Government is expected to approve a plan to double the staff of the Civil Administration in the West Bank. The Civil Administration is responsible for managing numerous aspects of life for the Israeli and Palestinian residents. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to consolidate a plan to boost the Civil Administration’s staff, and in recent months preparatory work has been ongoing between his ministry, the Finance Ministry and others. By the end of the meetings, a plan was formulated to hire 280 new employees for the Civil Administration in the coming years, including 150 Palestinians.