The BBC reports on US President Joe Biden’s reiteration of his view that Palestinians deserve their own state in a two-state solution. The President’s comments came in the aftermath of his meeting with the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, where he was quoted stating: “Palestinian people deserve a state of their own that’s independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous.” Additionally, there was also a commitment to advance peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in the future.

The BBC also includes further details on President Biden’s trip to the West Bank, after which Palestinian leader Abbas warned the opportunity for a two-state solution “may not remain for a long time.” During Biden’s visit to Bethlehem, he became the first sitting US President to visit the Augusta Victoria Hospital, along with a pledge of $100million to help the hospital.

The Financial Times writes about Saudi Arabia’s decision to open up its airspace to all flights to and from Israel, which President Biden claimed was a “historic decision”. It comes after Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was keen to improve relations with Israel due to their common enemy in Iran growing in strength.

A potentially controversial comment from President Biden, reported in The Times,compared the fall of the Palestinians to Britain’s “attitude toward Irish-Catholics over the years”. Biden has long-standing Irish heritage.

Over the weekend, there were once again rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel in an alleged protest to the visit of President Biden, which was summarised by Reuters. One rocket was intercepted, with the others landing in open space. The IDF responded by targeting Hamas training camps. Hamas has strongly condemned Biden’s Israel visit, stating it “reflected US support of the Zionist entity”.

The lawyer who previously represented murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been detained and sentenced to three years in the UAE, according to The Independent. US citizen Asim Ghafoor was arrested in Dubai relating to an apparent charge of money laundering, of which he had no prior knowledge. It comes after the long-awaited meeting between President Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who US intelligence claim is responsible for the murder of Khashoggi.

In the Israeli media, Maariv follows yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, after which the security cabinet was convened for the first time under Prime Minister Lapid. “In response to the [rocket] fire, the IDF attacked that very same night targets in Gaza in two waves of attack on a scale that they weren’t prepared for,” said Lapid at the cabinet meeting, adding: “This government’s policy hasn’t changed. For every [instance of rocket] fire, for every incendiary balloon, we will respond quickly and forcefully, and without hesitation.” Defence Minister Benny Gantz also commented on the rocket fire out of the Gaza Strip and said: “Over the course of the weekend there was an unacceptable violation on Hamas’s part—rocket fire into Israeli territory. That action was met with a very significant and powerful response—severe damage to [Hamas’s rocket] production capacity.” Gantz added: “I have suspended at this stage increasing the number of work permits for Gaza Strip residents. We want to maintain security and to develop people’s fundamental ability to earn a living. We view that as an important humanitarian value, but that won’t happen without quiet.”

Walla notes that the Labour Party will hold its primaries today for the party’s list and election for the party leadership. About 36,000 party functionaries will be able to choose by text message or ballot between the chairman of the current Labour Party, Merav Michaeli, and the party’s secretary general, Eran Hermoni. According to estimates, Michaeli is expected to win, but the degree of support for Hermoni will reflect the strength of the opposition she still has left in the party. If Michaeli is indeed elected to a second term, she will be the first incumbent chair of the Party who would not have been ousted at the end of their term since the primaries system was introduced in the early 1990s.

Yediot Ahronot reports on comments by Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev, who said there was no dispute that policemen and policewomen were permitted to neutralise a driver heading toward them in a car or anyone else endangering their life. Bar-Lev said this yesterday at the funeral of Barak Meshulam, who was run over and killed at a police roadblock in Raanana. The suspect is a 17-year-old Palestinian boy from el-Bireh who stole across the border into Israel through a hole in the separation fence south of Ramallah. Barak’s death had led to several voices from the Police Border Force to speak out about their dilemma when confronting a car-ramming attack, and also arguing that they feel abandoned from the authorities.

Israel Hayom reports that the Likud Central Committee has reacted angrily to the party’s court which ruled to change the system for electing representatives from districts, and to have the entire body of registered party members elect them instead of only the members of the central committee. Central Committee Chairman Haim Katz said he will appeal the decision on Wednesday to restore the power to the committee members and have them elect the districts’ representatives. If the new system stands, this will weaken the power of Yisrael Katz and David Bitan, who want to have Likud activists with ties to them elected to the Knesset list, which they could achieve by striking deals with the Likud Central Committee members. Matti Tuchfeld writes: “Changing the system does not always produce the desired outcome. Netanyahu, who is afraid of a sub-faction being formed within the next Likud faction, who is leery of district representatives who may not bow to his authority but who bow to the authority of powerful groups within the Likud, and people who hold key positions in the Likud Central Committee, could discover obedient and loyal people who enter this way, or rebels who enter a different way, by means of the registered members in fact.”

A Channel 13 poll last night indicated that the Religious Zionist Party would win 3 seats more if it enters the next election with Itamar Ben Gvir as leader rather than current leader, Bezalel Smotrich. Two of the three seats picked up by the Religious Zionist Party under Ben Gvir come at the Likud’s expense, and the other at the expense of Blue and White-New Hope. The poll reads as follows: Likud on 34, Yesh Atid 22, Religious Zionist Party 13, Blue and White-New Hope 11, Shas 8, United Torah Judaism 7, Joint List 6, Yisrael Beiteinu 6, Labour Party 6, Meretz 5, and the United Arab List 4. The pro-Netanyahu bloc remains just short of a majority, on 60.

Commentating on the poll, Raviv Drucker says: “Bezalel Smotrich ought to be worried by this poll, since it is going to be very hard for him to continue to demand the top slot when his partner is projected to win 30 per cent more seats for the party than him. Benny Gantz and Gideon Saar also ought to be concerned. Just a single week after their merger, they appear to be suffering from downward momentum. Polls that were taken just last week granted them between 13 and 14 seats, and they are now down to 12 and are on the cusp of getting just 11 seats. Notably, after polling for a while at around seven seats, the Joint List is down to six in this poll. On the flip side, the United Arab List has gained momentum. In Channel 13 News’ previous poll, the UAL was projected to cross the electoral threshold, but that was only thanks to half a seat that was given to it by Jewish Israeli voters. In this most recent poll, the UAL crosses entirely thanks to its support from within Arab society.”

Kan Radio reports that three high-ranking Shin Bet officials asked MK Orit Struck of the Religious Zionist Party to vote in favour of a bill that would exempt the secret services from complying with a High Court of Justice ruling stipulating that a prisoner must be given minimal living space in prison. According to report, the three went to Struck’s office three weeks ago, after they had learned that her party was opposed to the bill that requires the coalition and the opposition’s support in order to pass. Struck refused and demanded that the Jewish department in the Shin Bet be abolished. The Shin Bet issued a statement in which said it had wanted to see two bills passed into legislation to allow it to do its job and that its representatives had reached out to MKs from different factions.

Ynet reports that a group of hackers affiliated with Iran carried out a cyberattack on the website of the Health Ministry on Sunday, intermittently restricting access to the site from abroad. Pro-Iranian group Al-Tahira claimed responsibility for attack, which disrupted the website’s normal traffic by overwhelming it or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic. The same group claimed Thursday that it hacked the Jerusalem Municipality website and the website of state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. On Monday, the pro-Iranian group also made the Tel Aviv Municipality site crash in the same way.

The Finance Ministry has been transferring money to Palestinians via secret ‘extra-budgetary’ fund, according to Israel Hayom. The fund’s existence was revealed in the state’s answer to the Supreme Court in response to a petition filed by the Kohelet Policy Forum. State’s attorney Yael Morag Yako-El wrote that Israel had committed to transferring the Palestinians a “loan” of NIS 100 million (£24.2 million). “The source of this amount is an extra-budgetary fund managed by the Civil Administration and Finance Ministry’s Budgets Department,” she wrote. Just one month ago, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee discusses payments to the Palestinians, in which the fund was not mentioned in the talks despite being attended by dozens of government representatives. The state says it is prepared to present the financial agreements with the Palestinian Authority to the High Court of Justice, but only “behind closed doors, and only to the court”.