BBC News Online, Daily Mail via PA, Daily Mail via AFP and the Guardian report on the stabbing at a bus station outside the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The victim was Rabbi Itamar Ben Gal, a 29 year-old father of four. Israeli media reported that the Palestinian was armed with two knives. Israeli television station Channel 2 News aired footage from the scene showing the attacker crossing a busy road and then lunging at the man, taking him by surprise.

BBC News Online reports that Israel’s air strikes in the Sinai show its growing Arab ties. The report includes much of the reporting from the story in this weekend’s New York Times which highlights the assistance security forces in Israel have given to Egypt to fight terrorism in the Sinai.

The Daily Mail reports that Israel has started handing out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave the country or risk being thrown in jail. The Government is offering the migrants, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea, £2,500 and a plane ticket to an unnamed “safe destination” in another country in sub-Saharan Africa. The demands do not apply to men with family in Israel, or men who are still having their asylum applications processed by the state, who are allowed to stay

The Daily Mail reports top Palestinian official Saed Erekat’s harsh words to describe US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, in the wake of comments she made about Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas. ‘Nikki Haley needs to shut up and realise that the Palestinian leadership is not the problem,’ said Erekat according to the New York Daily News. “Instead, the problem is the Israeli occupation and the policies it continues to pursue. I’m not saying that we don’t make mistakes; every society and every government makes mistakes,” Erekat added.

The Times reports that the Assad regime and Russian forces have intensified their assault on the last pocket of rebel control in northern Syria, launching dozens of airstrikes and an apparent chlorine gas attack. Scores of civilians were buried under rubble and at least 43 people were declared dead yesterday after airstrikes hit the north-western province of Idlib and other rebel-held territories.

The Daily Mail reports on the lawsuit filed by three fans of the singer Lorde who bought tickets to see her now cancelled show in Tel Aviv. The plaintiffs are claiming ‘moral and emotional injury’ due to Lorde cancelling the concert. The lawsuit was filed against Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab, two New Zealand activists who wrote Lorde an open letter urging her not to perform in Israel.

Yahoo News UK via Newsweek reports that Gaza is just days or even hours away from war, Palestinian factions have warned, as tensions build up between the militant group Hamas and Israel. Sources close to Hamas’s political leadership told the London-based al-Hayat newspaper that the chances of war with Israel “stood at 95 per cent” and could happen at any moment. Individuals in contact with Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s hardline political leader in the Gaza strip, have said Palestinian factions believe Israel will use an upcoming training exercise as cover to attack Hamas.

Daily Mail via AFP report that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that recent developments in the Middle East could create “an irreversible one-state reality” that would bury the two-state solution of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Guterres said that “the global consensus on settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “could be eroding, making effective concerted action more difficult to achieve, at a time when it is more important than ever”.

Daily Mail via AFP reports that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet the Palestinian leader during a brief tour of the Middle East, the foreign ministry said Monday, just weeks after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Indian premier will visit Ramallah first on his three-day tour of the region between 9-12 February, which will also take in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Modi will hold talks with Mahmud Abbas in an overture seen as India’s effort to balance its decades-old support for the occupied territories against its growing closeness to Israel.

The Daily Mail via AP reports Israel’s foreign ministry has unveiled a monument honouring diplomats who saved Jews during the Holocaust. Netanyahu dedicated the site on Monday for the 36 diplomats whom the Yad Vashem memorial has recognised as “Righteous Among the Nations”.

The Daily Mail via AP reports that new statistics indicate that after years of growth the number of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in Israel’s workforce has begun to decline. The Israel Democracy Institute, citing official figures, said Monday that ultra-Orthodox male employment dropped from 51.7 percent in 2016 to 50.3 percent in 2017, halting a steady rise.

All the Israeli media lead on the stabbing terror attack yesterday in Ariel.  Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Israel Hayom all highlight that the terrorist came from Jaffa, and is an Israeli Arab citizen. Maariv also reveals he was known to social services in Haifa, and as a teenager lives in premises for youth at risk in the city under the supervision of the Welfare Ministry’s youth service.  Israel Hayom notes that Arab Israelis are highly sought after by militant organisations due to their ability to move freely on both sides of the Green Line and to pass through roadblocks. “The Arab Israelis’ blue identity cards not only afford them freedom of movement, but also a certain defence from measures taken by the security organisations toward Palestinians,”the paper says. It also notes this is the second terror attack since the start of the year. The sense on the ground of a rise in terror, is not backed by the numbers: in 2017, 18 people were killed in terror attacks. There were 54 major terror attacks (shooting attacks, vehicle ramming attacks, stabbing terror attacks), compared to 4 in 2018. The characteristics of the two fatal terror attacks this year are also different; while in yesterday’s terror attack, the terrorist was independent and did not belong to any terror organisation, the earlier terror attack was carried out by a cell, affiliated with Hamas.

Yediot Ahronot and Maariv quote Lieberman talking about Gaza: “The situation in Gaza is indeed difficult, and it needs to be taken care of, but there is no humanitarian crisis.”  However, he noted that there has been a deterioration in the level of services and basic infrastructure in the strip, saying it “needs to be taken into account.”  The Defence Minister blamed Hamas, as it “spent $260m in 2017 on rocket manufacturing and tunnel digging. $100m came from Iran, and the rest came from tax collection inside the strip and donations from various places. Hamas was not willing to divert even one shekel toward the water, electricity, health or education systems in the strip. Hamas is willing to sacrifice all of Gaza’s residents for weapons.”  He also blamed the situation on the intra-Palestinian conflict between Fatah and Hamas. “Hamas doesn’t want to take any more responsibility over Gaza, because it won’t transfer the tax collection to the Palestinian Authority.”  He added, “I saw the report in Al-Hayat of London that the State of Israel will exploit a military exercise to attack the Gaza Strip and assassinate the Hamas leaders. I want to make it absolutely clear: we have no intention of launching any military course of action in Gaza, but I’m pleased that the Hamas leadership is panicking, which says a bit about their courage.”

Maariv also publishes a perspective from a Palestinian in Gaza, who writes, “The Israeli government has to understand that the more it pressures Hamas, the more the Gazans rally around it.This is particularly true given the complete conviction of the Gaza Strip residents that Hamas did everything, absolutely everything, to bring about internal Palestinian reconciliation, but the Palestinian Authority, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, is not interested in reconciliation.” “For the first time they are turning to Hamas and demanding, even begging, to go to war. They are fed up with the difficult situation.  Only the senior echelon of Hamas is preventing war with Israel. Hamas, for its own reasons, does not wish to go to war at this point.”

Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz report a briefing to security correspondents from a senior naval officer.  He warned of “The entrenchment of Iran in Yemen and the transfer of advance weaponry to the Houthi forces in the region constituting a threat to merchant ships making their way to the Mediterranean Sea.” He added “We are dealing today with the most advanced systems being transferred to Houthis and Hezbollah, and this definitely constitutes a threat to Israel’s merchant ships and gas rigs.”   Hezbollah has weapons that threaten the entire area of Israel’s economic waters and could cause damage to each of the fields that supply gas to Israel.  He also candidly related to the case 3000, the sale of advanced submarines between Germany and Israel.  A deal in which Israel agreed in exceptional terms to waive the exclusivity clause, and in effect allowed the German company to sell four submarines it manufactured to Egypt, according to reports not approved by the navy.”Even though the Egyptians are not in the circles of threat to Israel, I would prefer that they do not have similar German submarines, they constitute a significant leap forward,” he said.

Haaretz note that Poland has cancelled Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s planned visit. He was scheduled to visit Poland next Wednesday to address Polish students and meet with Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Science and Higher Education in Poland. A Polish government spokeswoman Joanna Kopcińska clarified “there will be no such visit in Poland.” In response, Bennett said: “The Polish government cancelled my visit to Poland because I mentioned the crimes of its people. Polish Jewish blood cries out from the ground and no law will silence it.  Now, the next generation has an important lesson to learn about the Holocaust of our people, and I will make sure they learn it. This decision by the Polish government will be a major part of the lessons of the Holocaust, even if they intended to achieve something else.  The extermination camps in Poland were established and operated by the Germans, and they must not be allowed to evade this responsibility, many Poles throughout their country informed, betrayed or participated in the murder of some 200,000 Jews during the Holocaust and even afterwards.  Only a few thousand Righteous Among the Nations risked their lives to save them. That is the truth. I agreed to a dialogue based on truth. The Polish government chose to evade this truth. No legislation will change the past.”

Yediot Ahronot reveals that 40 years after winning the Eurovision song content, Haleluya has been chosen as the central song for the celebrations of Israel’s 70^th independence.