The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mirror, Independent, Metro and the online edition of the Financial Times all report that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned by police yesterday evening concerning allegations of corruption. The Attorney General last week gave permission to open a criminal investigation into two unspecified allegations. The Times and Telegraph suggest that one of the acts involved receiving gifts from Ron Lauder, the heir to Estee Lauder cosmetics. The Guardian also notes that Netanyahu’s Likud Party has recently been eclipsed in polls by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid.

The Independent covers a Human Rights Watch report, that claims senior Israeli politicians and police have given public statements endorsing the use of lethal force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. The report comes ahead of the verdict expected this week in the high-profile case of Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier accused of unlawfully killing a Palestinian assailant in Hebron last year.

Writing in the Times yesterday, Tim Montgomerie criticises the recent UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements, saying: “What those who deserted Israel at the UN miss” is that “Israel is in the front line against radical Islam”. He concludes: “Israel is far from perfect but the world’s democracies should do more to understand that it has always been located in a tough neighbourhood – and never as tough or besieged as today.”

The Times, Independent and I report that Turkey is on the verge of identifying the terrorist who killed 39 people, including a 19-year-old Israeli woman, in an Istanbul night club on New Year’s Eve. The Financial Times online says that Turkish police have already arrested eight suspects. The Telegraph and Guardian report that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

The online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph report that Syrian opposition groups have threatened to freeze potential peace talks brokered by Russia and Turkey due to be held in Kazakhstan this month over claims that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have abused the ongoing ceasefire.

A Guardian editorial notes that six years after the Arab Spring “Arabs have once again become pawns on the chess board” in Middle East diplomacy and warns that “those cut off from changing their own societies by democratic means may turn their anger inwards – or outwards”.

The top story in the Israeli media is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s interview with police officers. It is the lead item in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom, which highlights Netanyahu’s denial of any wrongdoing and a comment that his opponents should “hold off with the celebrations”.

Israel Radio news focuses on a statement released by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit about Netanyahu’s interview with police officers. Mandelblit did not specify the allegations against Netanyahu, but did noted that he would not pursue action in four other cases involving Netanyahu that include allegations of illegal funding during the 2009 general election and suggestions of double-billing for flights abroad.

Commenting in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea says that by mentioning the cases he will not be pursuing, Mandelblit “indicates that he wants to persuade the Israelis who are opposed to questioning Netanyahu, first and foremost the politicians who crowded around him, that he is not the enemy”. He concludes that “the attorney general will not be able to continue with this secrecy over time. The public is entitled to know why its Prime Minister is being questioned in a criminal investigation”.

Another prominent item in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Israel Hayom is the death of a mother in Jerusalem, who allegedly killed her four daughters before committing suicide. The funerals of the mother and the girls will take place today.

Maariv covers comments made yesterday by Jewish Home leader and Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who said that his party intends to submit a bill to annex Ma’aleh Adumim, the large settlement east of Jerusalem.