Reuters and The Guardian report on our main story. A Palestinian killed three Israelis near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and was hailed by Islamist militants as a hero on Tuesday, hours before Israel swore in lawmakers set to return Benjamin Netanyahu to power atop a hard-right coalition. The attack at Ariel settlement’s industrial zone, which Israeli officials said was carried out by a knife-wielding man who was later shot dead by a soldier, was the bloodiest for Israel since it intensified West Bank raids in March.

Reuters also reports that Israel’s inflation rate rose “a more than expected 5.1% in October over the prior 12 months from 4.6% in September, which is likely to garner a strong response from the Bank of Israel next week”. The consumer price index (CPI) rose “0.6% in October from September”, the Central Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

Reuters also reports that Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA) reported “a rise in net profit for the third quarter and higher revenue boosted by growth in its mobile phone unit and rapid deployment of its fibre optics network”. Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, said it earned 314 million shekels ($92 million) in the third quarter excluding one-time items, compared with 295 million shekels a year earlier. Revenue gained 5.6% to 2.26 billion shekels.

The Telegraph reports that the wife of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the extreme-Right Israeli politician, posed for photographs with a pistol tucked into her skirt during a meeting with top politicians’ wives at a luxury hotel in Jerusalem. Ayala Ben-Gvir claimed she had to take the gun to the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in West Jerusalem because she is a Jewish settler from Hebron and her husband is “the most threatened man in the country”.

The Independent reports that in the occupied West Bank, Israel has installed robotic weapons that can “fire tear gas, stun grenades and sponge-tipped bullets at Palestinian protesters”. The weapons, perched over a crowded Palestinian refugee camp and in a flashpoint West Bank city, use artificial intelligence to track targets. Israel says the technology saves lives — both Israeli and Palestinian. But critics see another step “toward a dystopian reality in which Israel fine-tunes its open-ended occupation of the Palestinians while keeping its soldiers out of harm’s way”.

The Israeli media focuses on the deaths from the terror attack in Ariel. Kan Radio reports that fifty-year-old Tamir Avihai of Kiryat Netafim was laid to rest last night at the Barkan cemetery. He is survived by his wife and six children. Bat Yam resident Michael Ladygin, 36, will be laid to rest at 3:30 this afternoon at the Holon-Bat Yam cemetery. He immigrated to Israel five years ago and is survived by a wife and two children. Funeral arrangements for Motti Ashkenazi, a 59-year-old father of three and grandfather of two, have not been announced.

Army Radio reports that the commander of the US CENTCOM completed a visit to Israel during which he toured the northern border and visited a squadron of F-35 fighter jets. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said Israel has increased cooperation and added that Israel is training and developing joint military capabilities at an accelerated pace in light of the growing threats around the Middle East, especially vis-à-vis Iran. The chief of staff added that Israel and the United States are working together on every metric to train for a range of eventualities.

Commenting on negotiations over ministerial appointments, Nahum Barnea in Yediot Ahronot writes that Bezalel Smotrich is ‘1 against 63’. “All the members of Netanyahu’s bloc have refrained from speaking publicly about which job they are going to hold in the next government. They have been waging their wars quietly, behind the scenes. Smotrich is the only one who has placed his personal aspirations on the table. He wants either the finance or the defence portfolio. If not, his seven MKs will stay out of the government.” On the possibility of Smotrich being appointed Finance Minister, Barnea warns that “when it comes to social and economic issues, Smotrich’s views are antithetical to those held by the Likud grassroots operatives and Shas.”

Makor Rishon writes that Netanyahu’s meeting yesterday with Bezalel Smotrich at the Knesset was the first after a three-day split between them “but the meeting ended in discord after just 50 minutes. The clash that unfolded over Netanyahu’s refusal to nominate Smotrich as defence minister revealed Netanyahu’s true fears about far-reaching changes that Smotrich wants to make to Israeli settlement policy and the judiciary.” Yesterday, Smotrich clarified his expectations from Netanyahu, and said that his Religious Zionist Party has no mandate to compromise. “Let me be as clear as I can: the way things have been up to now is not the way they are going to be moving forward. I promise that everybody who voted for the right will get the right. The people who voted for us put their faith in us and are completely justified in their expectation that we will uphold our promises. This time, there neither are nor will there be any excuses.” Channel 12 reports that “Under the existing circumstances, Netanyahu finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Smotrich was told yesterday that Israel would have to enact moderate policies at least for the duration of US President Joe Biden’s term in office, and he was offered a “medium-level” portfolio of his choosing. Meanwhile, Smotrich has continued to insist on receiving either the finance or defence portfolio, whereas Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri has insisted on the finance portfolio for himself. The Likud now intends to try to cobble together a “generous” package that might compensate Deri, such as the interior portfolio with expanded powers, in hope of persuading him to accept.”

In Haaretz, Amos Harel writes that Israel’s new government will have to back up belligerence as terror wave becomes new reality. The terror attacks in the West Bank are continuing, unrelated to the outcome of the Israeli election or the upcoming government transition. The killing spree by the Palestinian terrorist on Tuesday morning, in which three Israeli civilians were murdered, is the most serious of its kind since the attack in the city of Elad at the end of Independence Day this year. The wave of terror that began last March is no longer really a wave, but seems like a kind of new reality, which is likely to be long-term. He adds that “the belligerent rhetoric that characterised many members of the prospective coalition when they were sitting in the opposition will no longer avail them. The public will expect the new people in charge to prove themselves. Empty words about restoring deterrence, the death sentence for terrorists and total support for the soldiers and policemen will have to withstand the test of reality.”

Maariv publishes a piece on the Israeli response to reports that the FBI is due to investigate the death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin. Speaking in the Knesset yesterday Prime Minister Yair Lapid commented on the reports, saying, “IDF soldiers will not be questioned by the FBI or by any foreign body of any foreign country, no matter how friendly. We will not forsake IDF soldiers to foreign investigations and our fierce protest was conveyed to the Americans at the suitable levels.” Defence Minister Benny Gantz reacted earlier, issuing the following statement  [in English]: “The decision taken by the US Justice Department to conduct an investigation into the tragic passing of Shireen Abu Akleh, is a mistake. The IDF has conducted a professional, independent investigation, which was presented to American officials with whom the details were shared. I have delivered a message to US representatives that we stand by the IDF’s soldiers, that we will not cooperate with an external investigation, and will not enable intervention to internal investigations.”

Maariv reports that Georgian security officials foiled an attempt by the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Force, to assassinate an Israeli-Georgian businessman, Itsik Moshe living in the capital Tbilisi. Quds Force operatives in multiple countries planned the attack. Under Iranian direction, a Pakistani team affiliated with al-Qaeda made its way to Georgia to gather intelligence and prepare for it.