Reuters and the Financial Times are reporting on our main story, that Israel rejected revisions requested by Lebanon to a U.S.-brokered border demarcation proposal on Thursday. Throwing into doubt years of diplomatic efforts to enable the enemy countries to extract gas at a disputed Mediterranean prospect, the draft deal, which has not been made public, had a warm preliminary reception from the Israeli and Lebanese governments. But amid domestic opposition in both countries, Lebanon asked a U.S. envoy for several amendments.

Reuters reports that Israel’s aggressive interest rate hiking cycle aimed at lowering inflation was at a “well advanced” stage. Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron said, with price pressures starting to ease and inflation hopefully moving back into its target range next year, Israel will likely avoid a recession. After hitting a 14-year high of 5.2% in July, Israel’s inflation rate eased to 4.6% in August but remained well above an official annual target of 1% to 3% and almost half the levels of the United States and in Europe.

Reuters also reports that at least three-quarters of Americans think the United States should pursue negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon. This is according to a survey taken by the nonpartisan Eurasia Group Foundation last month. Broken down by party affiliation, the survey found that 88.0% of Democrats supported such negotiations, as did 76.9% of independents and 71.8% of Republicans after the survey informed them the United States withdrew from the original deal in 2018. Asked last year about the nuclear deal, 62.6% overall said the Washington should revive nuclear negotiations.

The BBC has written that a new video posted online appears to show schoolgirls heckling a member of Iran’s feared paramilitary Basij force, after anti-government protests sweeping the country spread to the classroom. The teenagers wave their headscarves in the air and shout “get lost, Basiji” at the man, who was asked to address them.

The Guardian reports that a rare US helicopter raid on a government-held village in Syria’s north-east killed a senior Islamis State militant hiding out there and a separate US airstrike later on Thursday killed two others. According to the US Army, the US has carried out previous raids in Syria against members of Islamic State, but Thursday’s would be the first known operation against the group in a zone held by forces loyal to the president, Bashar al-Assad.

Most of the Israeli media is dominated by relations between Israel and Lebanon and the seeming crisis in negotiations over the maritime agreement.

In related news, Globes reports that UK-Greek energy exploration and production company Energean plc has notified the Tel Aviv and London stock exchanges about a major discovery of natural gas in commercial quantities in the Hermes exploration offshore from Israel. The company says that preliminary estimates indicate that the structure contains between 7 and 15 billion cubic meters (BCM) of recoverable natural gas resources. Hermes is located southeast of the Karish field, to which it holds the production rights.

In Haaretz Yossi Verter is critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s behaviour since the maritime draft agreement was announced. “Netanyahu is a prime minister who fled from military conflicts but does not refrain from inciting emotions and violence in our neighbourhood that is tense in any case when he is handling the role from the opposition. That is how he was in the 1990s…That is also how he was in 2009, when the Likud chairman had himself filmed on the eve of the election, during Operation Cast Lead [in Gaza], and promised to topple the Hamas regime the minute after he became prime minister. Then too the security situation played in his favour and brought Likud ahead of Kadima in the public opinion polls. In short, Netanyahu was and remains a leader who aspires to security stability – but only on his watch. When he is not in power, it’s a free-for-all, no holds barred.”

In election news, Maariv publishes a poll with the pro-Netanyahu bloc gaining 61 seats. Likud is polling at 32 seats, with its potential coalition allies Religious Zionist Party at 14 and Shas and United Torah Judaism at 8 and 7 respectively. Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid is polling at 23, National Unity Party at 12, Yisrael Beiteinu 6, Labour Party 5, Meretz 5, Hadash-Taal 4, and the United Arab List 4.

Yediot Ahronot reports on the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on Amichai Chikli’s appeal of the Central Elections Committee’s decision to prohibit him from running on the Likud slate, and the ruling on Balad’s disqualification, which will both be given on Sunday. Yesterday an expanded panel of justices on the High Court of Justice denied the Movement for Quality Government’s petition against Idit Silman’s reserved slot on the Likud list.

Haaretz reports that a gay Palestinian man was brutally murdered while awaiting asylum. The decapitated body of Ahmad Abu Marhia, 25 was found in Hebron with images of his body were circulated on Palestinian social media. “The heart aches at the murder of Ahmad Hakam Hamdi Abu Marhia,” the LGBTQ Task Force said in response. “Ahmad fled to Israel from the Palestinian Authority two years ago, after being persecuted and threatened over his sexual orientation. Yesterday, two months before he was supposed to begin a new life in Canada, we learned of his brutal murder in Hebron, which was disseminated on social media. This is painful and bloody reminder of the harsh situation facing LGBTQ asylum-seekers who are persecuted within the PA, often exposed to real threats of murder, and seeking to reach Israel and find asylum in it.”