BBC News Online reports that Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has defended Iran-backed militias during talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has criticised their role in Iraq.

The Guardian reports that Israeli MKs will consider this week two initiatives which critics accuse of being aimed at shutting down one of the country’s most high-profile “anti-occupation” groups, Breaking the Silence. The so-called “NGO law” has been advanced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, who claim it would only shut down groups who are working to “have [Israeli] soldiers tried under international law”.

The Guardian and the Mail Online both report on comments made by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin who has launched a stark attack on the policies of Netanyahu’s right-wing government, warning that Israeli democracy is in danger.

The Mail Online reports that Germany signed a deal with Israel on Monday to sell three submarines to the Israeli navy in an agreement of “strategic importance”.

The Times and BBC News Online report that ISIS has killed 116 civilians in Syria during its retreat from pro-regime forces. The massacre occurred in the small desert town of Al-Qaraytan.

The Mail Online and Reuters UK report on a statement made by Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said on Monday that mortar and rocket fire from Syria that landed in Israel last week was ordered by arch-foe Hezbollah, without the involvement of the Syrian regime.

All the Israeli media focus on the start of the Knesset’s winter session yesterday. Ben Caspit writes in Maariv that “there has most likely never been, in the history of the Knesset, such an event, in which the president of Israel stands and says such vehement statements about the abyss to which the Prime Minister is trying to drag us”. On the Prime Minister he says, “it was classic Netanyahu: he took things out of context, he slanted them the way he wanted, he turned his opponents into enemies of Israel and into supporters of the Iranian nuclear programme and earned applause”.

Yediot Ahronot laments that the Prime Minister could ”have turned this speech into something conciliatory, moderating, and unifying. Just once, after years of fuelling tensions and incitement, to be what a leader is expected to be”.

Haaretz report Defence Minister Lieberman‘s comments about rocket fire from Syria, claiming it “was not spillover, it was deliberate fire at Hezbollah’s initiative,” and at the “personal and direct order from Nasrallah”. Yediot Ahronot frames the debate as a dispute between the Defence Minister and the head of military intelligence, who suggests there is no information to support his version.

Israel Hayom reveals that, according to White House sources, US President Donald Trump will present an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan before the end of December. The source suggests, unlike reports that have circulated recently in the Israeli media, the president will present a comprehensive plan that both sides will have to live with. The president does not want long drawn out negotiations and may deliver an ultimatum of all or nothing.

Yediot Ahronot reports comments made by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, that he is against the bill that would prohibit investigating a sitting Prime Minister. He called the bill “absurd” and said that he “hoped that it would be taken off the agenda. No one is above the law, including the Prime Minister”.

Haaretz report that police are investigating criminal allegations against coalition chairman David Bitan (Likud).  The allegations relate to his time as deputy mayor of Rishon Letzion and permits given to businessmen.

Kan Radio News report on a conference held yesterday at the Justice Ministry, where State Attorney Shai Nitzan said that by the end of the year the Prime Minister’s cases would be decided and concluded.