The Independent reports that Israel is “blazing forward with a plan to protect sections of its 118-mile Mediterranean coastline, a measure experts say is crucial to maintain biodiversity and shield ecosystems from humanity. Rosh Hanikra, just south of the Lebanese border, is the centerpiece of this effort, providing what scientists believe can be a blueprint for rescuing seas ravaged by pollution, overfishing and climate change”.

The Financial Times publishes a piece saying the chief executive of a London-listed oil and gas company recently threatened by Hizbollah has called for more investment in the energy potential of the eastern Mediterranean after a landmark maritime deal between Lebanon and Israel. Mathios Rigas, whose Energean delivered the first gas from Israel’s Karish field last month, said the US-brokered agreement, following years of on-off negotiations between the sworn enemies, offered a “new model” for the resolution of border disputes in the contested region.

The Guardian reports Hebron’s Jewish settlers take heart from far-right polls surge in Israel. The triumph of extremist parties in recent elections is a cause for celebration in the birthplace of the settlement movement. For the 20% of the Israeli population which identifies as Palestinian, as well as those living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the far right’s elevation to a major government coalition partner in the Knesset means an already difficult situation is about to get much worse.

POLITICO has published a piece on recent updates to the election. Israel’s president officially tapped former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government on Sunday, opening the door for the likely return to power of the long-serving leader after a one-year hiatus. With Netanyahu comes what’s expected to be Israel’s most right-wing coalition ever.

Reuters reports Israel’s IDE Technologies and Bank Hapoalim won a government tender to build a new water desalination plant in northern Israel, Hapoalim said on Sunday.
Hapoalim, one of Israel’s two largest banks, will provide 1.3 billion shekels ($381 million) for the project near the northern city of Nahariya off the Mediterranean coast which aims to help the country contend with future water shortages.

Reuters also reports that French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday more targeted European Union sanctions on Iranian officials would be adopted and he left the door open to the bloc designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) a terrorist organisation.

The Times reports that as Iran erupts in protest, critics who fled to the UK are being warned by counterterrorism police that their lives are at risk from hit squads sent to track them down here. A number of UK journalists working for the Farsi-language television station Iran International, based in Chiswick, west London, have recently received details of a credible and “imminent” threat on his life after a hit squad was allegedly sent from Iran to assassinate dissidents on British soil. It has caused a diplomatic storm, with James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, summoning Iran’s most senior diplomat to Whitehall on Friday to warn that the UK will “not tolerate threats to life and intimidation of any kind towards journalists, or any individual, living in the UK”.

Maariv reports that Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked by President Isaac Herzog with forming a government. The president chose to open his speech with answers to questions that arose following the talks he held with the faction representatives during the consultation talks: “Regarding the candidate with the most support and the largest party—the results are clear: MK Netanyahu must be tasked with forming the government,” said the president, adding that “I haven’t lost sight of the fact that a legal proceeding is underway against that Member of Knesset in the Jerusalem District Court, and I do not take that lightly. However, it is important to note that the Supreme [Court] has already had its say on the issue in a number of rulings, including in an expanded panel of 11 justices the last time Netanyahu was tasked with forming the government. In view of all this, and after having considered the matters in accordance with the law, and after Netanyahu gave his consent as required by law, I have decided to task you, Netanyahu, with forming the government.” In his speech, following the president, Netanyahu described his vision for his coming term: “There are differences of opinion between parts of the people on fundamental issues, but there are more than enough issues on which the majority can unite and agree and to a large extent already does. There is an agreement that the State of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people. There is an agreement that terrorism must be fought without compromise. There is an agreement that we must act decisively against Iran’s aggression and thwart its efforts to arm itself with nuclear weapons, which directly threatens our existence. There is an agreement that we must forge more peace agreements out of strength, in return for peace, with additional Arab countries and thus we will end the Israeli-Arab conflict, not the Palestinian one, but in my opinion this is the preliminary step that will lead to that as well. There is an agreement that we must boost the economy, and there is an overwhelming agreement among the citizens that we are brothers and that we are meant to live side by side with all the differences.” Yesh Atid issued a statement that “This is a black day for Israeli democracy in which the prime minister-elect is subject to blackmail by his partners, whose sole joint purpose is to free him from his trial and send the State of Israel backwards.”

All the Israeli media report on discussions within the emerging coalition regarding ministerial portfolios.

Maariv reports that UTJ MK Meir Porush said on Saturday night, “I wish I could be optimistic. But we don’t have clear answers for a whole range of issues. There are things we’ve already agreed upon, and there are issues the Likud hasn’t yet provided clear answers on, including the education [portfolio], about which we have yet to receive answers.” For UTJ, the main obstacle is not the [ministerial] positions, but the Haredi education system’s budgets. UTJ is demanding that the budgets of the Haredi education system and the secular education system be equal—a demand that would require the allocation of large budgets. UTJ officials said that the Likud has refrained from providing clear answers and has continued to say that “the issue is being looked into.”

On a similar subject, Kan Radio reports that Degel Hatorah Chairman MK Moshe Gafni said that “no government would be formed unless a Supreme Court override clause were to be passed into legislation”. Speaking at an event scheduled to sum-up the election, Gafni said Israel should have a Supreme Court, but that it should be weak. Gafni also said that UTJ would demand from Netanyahu that the new government nullify what he called Bennett’s and Liberman’s “evil decrees” and added that the new coalition guidelines would include a clause to reverse everything done by the previous government.

Several commentators relate to the potential of Bezalel Smotrich being appointed as Defence Minister and Itamar Ben Gvir as Public Security Minister. Nahum Barnea in Yediot Ahronot writes that “in an extreme right-wing government you don’t place the defence and public security portfolios in the hands of two politicians who only know how to douse things with gasoline. Two, you don’t place state security in the hands of a man who doesn’t recognise the limits of force. Too much ambition, too much messianism, and not enough maturity and judiciousness. Smotrich can be appointed religious services minister, not defence minister.”

Regarding Ben Gvir as potential Public Security Minister, Barnea writes that “out of all of Netanyahu’s deeds and misdeeds, including the charges he currently faces, in my opinion that is the most reckless of all. But I seem to be in the minority opinion. The political establishment and the television reporters have responded to the decision to place responsibility for the Israel Police in the hands of a convicted criminal to be a natural, proper and reasonable development. People expect great things of him—some hope he will solve their personal security problems; others hope that he will blow up the Middle East with his provocations.”

The defence minister’s role has traditionally been to serve as a bridge between the army and the political leadership or, a more accurate description is to serve as a bridge and a wall. “When the next security cabinet is manned by people like Ben Gvir, Smotrich and the Likud ministers who follow their lead, the defence minister’s job is to be a wall. For many of the sorties and other military operations beyond Israel’s borders, he is the last station for either approving or refusing to allow the operation. The defence minister is effectively the sovereign power in the West Bank. Most of the decisions that pertain to the Jewish residents and to Israel’s relationship with the Palestinians run through him. Gantz met with Abu Mazen from time to time; coordination with the Palestinian Authority is vital for security. Smotrich won’t meet with Abu Mazen, he won’t remove illegal settlement outposts and he won’t use the IDF against price tag criminals. How could he possibly do that with Ben Gvir breathing down his neck?”

In Maariv, Ben Caspit also writes about negotiations with Ben Gvir and Smotrich. “Netanyahu’s hopes of forming a government swiftly and easily aren’t going to come true. Yes, he will form a government. No, he won’t do so easily. Most importantly: he knows that the government he forms—which will be the most right wing, extremist, religious and conservative in Israeli history—could be his last government, the one that determines his legacy. I’m not sure that this is what he wishes himself. One of Netanyahu’s goals in the days ahead is to drive a wedge between them. Otherwise, he’ll be in trouble. He knows that he won’t be able to explain those two appointments to anyone in the world. Not in Washington, not in Abu Dhabi, not in Amman, Cairo or Ankara. Certainly not in Europe. The defence minister is the sovereign power in the territories. He makes dozens of fateful decisions every day. He has to operate in one of the most sensitive and volatile places in the world, in a complex and complicated reality, and to do so under powerful constraints. Giving that job to Smotrich would be an act of diplomatic, security and political suicide.”

In Haaretz, Amos Harel writes that “It’s very possible that Netanyahu will not go this route [Smotrich as Defence Minister], whether out of fear for fear spoiling the sensitive relations with the U.S. administration, or to ensure that Smotrich doesn’t manage the territories under the prime minister’s nose…The media is focusing on Ben Gvir and possible provocations on the Temple Mount as well as demands regarding the conditions of Palestinian security prisoners. It’s also worth keeping an eye on his partner on the slate, who is more level-headed than Ben-Gvir. Netanyahu, who for most of his years in power was one of the most cautious and restrained in wielding military force, understands this well and deserved praise for it.  The question is whether he will try to impart that understanding to his partners, too, some of whom are relatively new in the profession, or whether he is once more in the grip of the hubris and arrogance that characterised his behaviour following his victory in the 2015 election (and which brought some of the legal troubles that haunt him today)”.