BBC News Online, Sky News, the Times, the Independent and the Daily Mail via AP report that Israel has launched an investigation into how the Lord Mayor of Dublin got into the country despite being the subject of an entry ban. The Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday that Mícheál Mac Donncha would not be allowed to enter on account of his ties to a pro-Palestinian group which advocates boycotting Israel. But Mac Donncha tweeted that he was already in the West Bank after flying into Tel Aviv’s airport. Officials are reported to have spelt the mayor’s name wrong on a watch list. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said the mayor would now be given a letter upon his departure informing him that he was barred from future entry to Israel. Israeli officials say Mac Donncha, a Sinn Féin city councillor, has ties to the Dublin-based Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC). It supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which campaigns for a complete boycott of Israel over its policies towards the Palestinians.

All UK media are reporting the build-up to potential US and UK military action in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma.

The Daily Mail, BBC News Online, ITV News, the Independent, Politico.eu, the Telegraph, the Sun, the Times and the Guardian, report on US President Donald Trump’s tweet yesterday, which warned Russia that it should be prepared for US missiles in Syria after a threat from Moscow that it would shoot down any western missiles. The US says “all options are on the table” in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, as Western leaders continue to weigh up military action. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that a final decision on military strikes had not been taken, but she said the US holds Russia and Syria responsible for the incident. The US National Security Council is set to meet on Thursday to discuss the issue. “The president has a number of options at his disposal and a number remain on the table,” Sanders said during a briefing on Wednesday evening. “We haven’t laid out any specific actions we plan to take,” she added.

BBC News Online, the Evening Standard, the Sun, ITV News, the Independent, the Telegraph, the Guardian and the Times report on the UK’s response to the attacks in Syria. Prime Minister Theresa May has summoned the Cabinet to discuss the government’s response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria. Ministers will consider the options for backing military action threatened by the United States and its allies. She is prepared to take action against the Assad regime in Syria without first seeking parliamentary consent, according to sources. Polling for the Times indicates that only a fifth of voters believe that Britain should launch missiles on Syrian military targets. More than two-fifths oppose action, with the remainder undecided. British submarines have reportedly been moved to within striking range of Syria in preparation for possible military action. The Times reports that Britain’s military airbase in Cyprus could find itself at risk of Russian retaliation after Moscow vowed to shoot down any missiles fired at Syria and target wherever they had been launched. Alexander Zasypkin, Russia’s Ambassador to Lebanon, said he was repeating a warning given by President Putin when he said that “if there is a strike by the Americans, then… the missiles will be downed and even the sources from which the missiles were fired”. May is set to defy calls, including from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, to follow recent convention and allow MPs a vote. Corbyn said Parliament must be consulted over any decision to launch British air strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He also called on the government to help “get every country, including the US and Russia, as well as the neighbouring states, around the table in Geneva to bring about a political solution”.

The Telegraph published an article by Mark Almond questioning whether Putin’s oligarchs now facing sanctions will back his actions in Syria.

The Times reports that the Russian military moved swiftly yesterday to lock down the site of the suspected toxic gas attack in Syria as international chemical weapons inspectors prepared for a fact-finding mission to establish what happened.

The Guardian reports that Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the Libyan military strongman seen as a potential winner of presidential elections in Libya this year, has reportedly been taken to hospital in Paris following a severe stroke.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday warned arch-enemy Iran not to test Israel, amid escalating regional tensions as the country marked its Holocaust Remembrance Day in memory of the 6m Jews systematically killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. Netanyahu’s comments came as the region braces itself following a tweet by US President Donald Trump earlier in the day warning Russia to “get ready” for a missile attack on its ally Syria, suggesting imminent retaliation for a suspected Syrian chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians last weekend.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that a Palestinian who says he was shot by an Israeli sniper along the Gaza border said Wednesday he was posing no threat to soldiers at the time, after a video of the incident went viral. The footage filmed from the Israeli side of the border fence, which included rejoicing after the shooting, was shared widely online and by the media earlier this week. It led to further scrutiny of Israel’s open-fire rules along the Gaza border.

Politico.eu published a column by director of the European Union for Progressive Judaism office in Brussels, William Echikson. He argues that siding with Hungary over Brussels undermines Europe’s positive antisemitism efforts and “[Netanyahu] should spend less time in Europe praising nationalists like Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and more time listening to people in Brussels, like European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans”.

All the Israeli media report on Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies which began last night with a state ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem attended by President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Supreme Court President Esther Hayut, other public figures and Holocaust survivors.

Yediot Ahronoth reports on a conversation last night between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu against the backdrop of American-Russian-Syrian tension, at which Putin asked Netanyahu to refrain from Israeli air strikes in Syrian territory. Netanyahu replied: “Israel will not allow Iran to entrench itself militarily in Syria.” A statement that was issued by the Kremlin noted that the conversation was held at Israel’s behest. The Security Cabinet convened yesterday for a regular meeting in which ministers said they anticipated an American attack in Syria and that they believed that the chances of Israel being drawn into a conflict in such an event was very low.

In an analysis piece in Maariv on the same topic, Tal Lev Ram argues that “despite the public Russian anger and protest over the attack in Syria that has been ascribed to Israel, the assessment in Jerusalem is that Moscow did not show Israel a ‘yellow card’ that might curtail the IDF’s freedom of action against objectives and targets that Israel views as crossing its red lines – primarily the continued Iranian military entrenchment in Syria”. “The crisis with Russia is far smaller than the public volume might have indicated,” he added.

Kan Radio News reports the Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas military compound in the northern Gaza Strip in response to an IED that was directed against an IDF vehicle yesterday.

Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom report on potential coalition tension as Netanyahu decided to promote an override clause of High Court decisions that goes farther than one under discussion until now. Netanyahu chose the version of the bill that had been presented by fellow party member Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, based on the British model, in which the Knesset is the sole body authorised to change, disqualify, or limit the validity of a law rather than the High Court of Justice being able to enjoin the Knesset to fix and re-legislate laws. The expanded override legislation could cause a coalitional dispute with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon expressing his opposition to an expanded override clause. Maariv quotes senior coalition members who believe that Netanyahu is not really interested in passing an expanded override clause, but rather that he is trying to push Kahlon to leave the government in order to pave the way for elections. Kulanu sources said that they expect the attorney general to oppose the British model at the cabinet meeting next Sunday.

Israel Hayom reports that Guatemala is scheduled to move its embassy to Jerusalem on 16 May, three days after the US Embassy moves to the capital. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat met yesterday with the Guatemalan Ambassador to Israel and with the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry’s Director General in order to ensure that there would be no impediments to moving the embassy.