In yesterday’s Observer, Simon Tisdall was sceptical as to the Biden Administration’s chances of achieving the diplomatic victories it seeks in the Middle East. Situating US efforts in a context of concern over Chinese influence and a continued belief in American pre-eminence, Tisdall writes: “Biden seems to think he can win Israeli agreement for increased Palestinian autonomy, a halt to West Bank annexation plans and maybe a revived two-state peace process in return for delivering the Saudis, defanging Iran and providing security guarantees all round. Biden’s hat-trick hopes look slightly delusional. Myriad local negative factors aside, time is against him. Like the rest of the world, self-interested regional leaders wonder how long he will last – and will Trump replace him. How things have changed. Time was, the US, like Britain before it, laid down the law in the Middle East. But that was before 9/11 and al-Qaida, Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of China and the malignant Vladimir Putin, and the authoritarian assault on global democracy and the rule of law… The era of the all-dominant superpower and the ‘indispensable nation’ is drawing to a close. Biden may do his darnedest to sustain the old order. But like Britain’s lost ‘imperial age’, the ‘American century’ in which he’s so firmly rooted is passing swiftly into history.”

The Telegraph’s Douglas Murray similarly upbraids Biden, this time for alienation of both enemies and allies, including Israel. “What business is it of the Americans,” he asks,  “if the Israeli government chooses to make long overdue changes to its supreme court system? Would anybody expect Netanyahu to step in and criticise the US government when the US supreme court is politicised? The idea is preposterous, but the belief that the Americans have the right to lecture everyone in the region is built into the system, when what America’s allies need is encouragement beyond words or occasional photo ops.” Murray is similarly scathing of US Iran strategy: “Tehran is once again extorting the US by demanding money for prisoners. Iran has been a rogue state since 1979, but there are few rogue states in the world that America is so constantly and successfully blackmailed by.”

The Guardian alleges that officials from the Israeli embassy in the UK have attempted to get the attorney general’s office to intervene in UK court cases relating to the prosecution of pro-Palestinian protesters. Emails obtained by a freedom of information request by the group Palestine Action appear to show director general of the attorney general’s office Douglas Wilson informing embassy staff that “the operational independence of the CPS and the sensitivities of engaging with them on individual cases” precluded his office intervening. Separate redacted emails from Wilson pertain to the issuing of private arrest warrants issued against visiting Israelis by UK citizens. An Israeli embassy spokesperson said it respected the independence of the British judicial system and “under no circumstances would interfere in UK legal proceedings”. They added: “As part of its ongoing work, the embassy of Israel raises awareness on severe attacks against entities related to Israel. Furthermore, it is the duty of the embassies of Israel around the world, including in the UK, to care for and provide assistance to Israelis wherever they are.”

Israel Hayom covers apparent differences of opinion within the prime minister’s inner circle over a potential defence pact with the US. The idea of a formal accord has been broached in recent weeks in the context of a potential normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Any such deal is likely to depend on Riyadh succeeding in winning huge defence concessions from Washington, potentially including advanced weapons sales and assistance with a Saudi nuclear programme. A US-Israel deal would be designed to partially allay Israeli fears at so dramatic a shift in regional capabilities. The defence pact is said to be being pushed by Netanyahu confidante Ron Dermer, who in an interview with PBS over the weekend indicated that Israel would not rule out consenting to a Saudi nuclear programme. “The devil is in the details,” he said, adding that “the question will be, when it comes to the details of an agreement, what are the safeguards? And what happens if they take another path, if they take a path with the Chinese or something else? We have to think through that whole thing.” The prime minister’s office later issued a statement stressing another remark of Dermer’s from the interview – “We’re not going to agree to any nuclear weapons program with any of our neighbours”. While Netanyahu is thought to have reversed his previous opposition to a defence pact with Washington, some defence experts remain opposed. In an article in Israel Hayom last Friday, former National Security Council director Jacob Nagel argued that a pact would “become a double-edged sword, with the potential of severely damaging deterrence on account of the indirect message that Israel doesn’t trust its own capabilities.”

On the same topic, Army Radio quotes opposition leader Yair Lapid opposing any normalisation deal which comes with a nuclear Saudi Arabia. “The State of Israel cannot permit uranium enrichment on Saudi soil because that would put the entire Middle East into a dangerous nuclear race,” he said. “An agreement must not include permission for uranium to be enriched on Saudi soil; if an agreement does include this permission, [Israel] must not sign it.”

Kan Radio reports that the leaders of Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) are demanding that the prime minister move forward with the bill formalising the exemption of ultra-Orthodox men from the military draft in the upcoming Knesset winter session. UTJ MK and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Heritage Meir Porush told the station that while the military should be free to draft anyone not studying Torah, every student who is studying should be free from conscription. Maariv reports that the leaders of the coalition parties met yesterday to discuss the bill but that the “gaps between the Haredi parties’ demands and the Likud’s position on the military draft bill remain large.” Netanyahu also met separately yesterday with Degel Hatorah Chairman Moshe Gafni, though with little apparent progress on a compromise.

Yediot Ahronot also covers the disquiet of Likud MKs over the prospect of the bill. An unnamed party official told the paper that “A large majority of Likud voters are not prepared to accept or support this draft bill. It isn’t just the left; it’s Likud voters too.” Addressing the potential charge of hypocrisy if the party were to advance exemption having criticised those who have threatened to refuse call-up in protest against the government’s judicial reforms, the officials also said: “After all, we’ve spoken out against refusal [to report for IDF reserve service] because that endangers national security. So is the Likud going to lend a hand to mass draft refusal? It’s not going to happen.”

Yediot Ahronot reports the allegations of police brutality against Arwa Sheikh Ali. Following his arrest last week for suspected drug offences, Sheikh Ali’s face was injured, leaving a mark in the shape of a partial Star of David. Ali was yesterday freed from custody and placed under house arrest, Judge Adi Bar Tal citing the police’s flawed conduct, including the decision to keep the suspect in a police holding cell for four days and only transferring him to a Prisons Service detention facility yesterday. Bar Tal also noted that “the arrest was accompanied by severe violence,” and criticised the fact that he hadn’t seen a doctor, contrary to an earlier decision by the court. Police issued a statement in response to Sheikh Ali’s allegations, saying that he resisted arrest and that the mark on his face had been created by an “article of clothing” (specifically shoelaces) worn by one of the police officers.

Kan Radio details today’s strike by Arab local council leaders in protest against government policies. Opposing, amongst other things, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent attempt withhold promised funds from Arab municipalities, officials have pledged that the school year will not begin on September 1^st as scheduled unless their demands are met, and have threatened an open-ended strike. Maariv reports the Federation of Local Authorities announcing a two-hour “solidarity” strike between 8:00 and 10:00 this morning.

On a related topic, Maariv reports the cabinet yesterday ratifying a five-year-plan to invest 3.2 billion shekels (£664 million) in East Jerusalem to reduce social and economic gaps and to bolster the economy of East Jerusalem. The plan will run from 2024-2028

Haaretz reveals that since Israel’s admission into the US visa waiver programme last month, more than 12,000 US citizens who normally reside in the West Bank have entered Israel. Entry into the programme – which allows US citizens entry to Israel without a visa – required that Israel impose no distinction for West Bank residents. While Israeli officials have been permitted to insist that Palestinian-Americans do not enter with a car, this too may be subject to challenge. Though the free entry of local Palestinian-Americans has thus far applied only to the West Bank, from September 15^th it is set to apply to Gaza, too.

Ynet features the recent discovery in Israel of a new variant of Covid-19. The new strain, nicknamed Pirola by scientists and detected after being identified and sequenced in the Tel Aviv Sourasky medical centre lab, has also been discovered in the UK, US, and Denmark. Vulnerable Israelis are set to be offered a vaccine boost next month, though Dr. Cyrille Cohen, Head of the laboratory of Immunotherapy at Bar Ilan University, warned that “the variant has many mutations and reminds us of the change to the COVID virus when it transitioned from the Delta variant to the Omicron strain and we are once again faced with a variant we know little about.”