There is widespread coverage of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech yesterday, which sharply warned that Israeli government policies are endangering the two-state solution. The Times calls it a “stinging rebuke” of Israel, while the Telegraph reports that Kerry’s “parting shot” emphasised that the “settler agenda” means the “hope of peace is slipping away”. The Guardian highlights a number of principles which Kerry outlined in order to reach a peaceful settlement. They include a secure and recognised border between two states, meeting Israel’s security needs and the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of two states. The Guardian also includes a Q&A on the two-state solution.

Writing in the Guardian online, Julian Borger compares Kerry’s principles to former US President Bill Clinton’s parameters which he published shortly before leaving office in 2000. He says that the “most significant differences” are that under Kerry’s solution, Israel would be explicitly accepted by its neighbours as a Jewish state and Jerusalem would be shared although not divided.

Kerry’s speech is also covered by the Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Independent. The Daily Mail focuses on the response of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described Kerry’s speech as “skewed” and accused him of an “obsessive” focus on settlements.

An editorial in the Daily Mirror says it is time for Netanyahu to “listen” and that he “would do better to heed critical friends” rather than join Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the “small international club” looking forward to Donald Trump’s presidency.

The Daily Express and Telegraph highlight Trump’s criticism of Kerry’s approach. He said via social media that the Obama administration had displayed “total disdain and disrespect” for Israel and urged Israel to “stay strong” until he takes office. The Financial Times says that Kerry’s speech “widens the Obama-Trump rift on Israel”.

The online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph report that UK diplomats apparently helped draft the UN Security Council resolution last week, which criticised Israeli settlements.

The Independent and online edition of the Guardian cover a Channel Ten report in Israel, which suggests that Israel’s Attorney General has ordered a criminal investigation into Netanyahu on two unspecified matters.

The Times reports that Israel yesterday declassified and published hundreds of thousands of files accumulated in an investigation into allegations of an attempt to forcibly assimilate children from recently-arrived Yemenite families during the 1950s.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz all lead with Kerry’s address yesterday evening. Israel Hayom leads with the front-page headline of Donald Trump’s plea for Israel to “be strong, January 20 is coming”.

In a comment on Kerry’s speech, Ben Caspit in Maariv castigates Netanyahu and accuses him of having changed the rules of the game “with an absolute majority of ministers who say that the two-state dream is over, with calls for annexation”. He concludes: “Whoever changes the rules of the game, takes risks… Now we are paying the price, and don’t say we didn’t warn you.”

Also in Maariv, Nadav Haetzni says that Kerry’s speech further demonstrates the “considerable loss of touch with reality” by the Obama administration and that “there is neither logic nor hope in these parting stabs. Their whole purpose is to damage us for as long as the current administration draws breath”.

Another significant item in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz and Israel Hayom is speculation that Prime Minister Netanyahu faces a criminal investigation. Israel Hayom says that the Attorney General has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

The declassification of files related to the fate of children from Yeminite families in the 1950s is covered prominently in Haaretz and Israel Hayom. Speaking to Israel Radio, Prof. Bat-Zion Eraqi Klorman, a researcher of the Jews of Yemen urged the families whose children had disappeared to create a DNA database so that there would be a chance of locating their loved ones.