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Media Summary

14/01/2015

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There is widespread coverage of the joint funeral which took place yesterday in Jerusalem for the four Jewish men who were killed in a terror attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris on Friday. The Guardian includes profiles of the four victims, while the Telegraph, Times, Independent, Daily Mail, Independent i, Daily Express, Daily Mirror and Metro all quote from speeches made at the ceremony by Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Most of the articles also note the uncertainty and fear facing French Jewry with many opting to emigrate to Israel. The Telegraph online includes a separate item which reports that 15,000 French Jews are expected to leave for Israel during 2015.

The Metro includes a report highlighting that an Israeli ultra-Orthodox newspaper re-printed a picture of international leaders at Sunday’s solidarity rally in Paris having air-brushed out female dignitaries including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Excluding images of females is not uncommon in the ultra-Orthodox media for reasons of religious modesty, but is nonetheless condemned by many within Israel.

Two new surveys on anti-Semitism in the UK are covered prominently by the Independent, Telegraph, Independent i, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Star. Research by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism indicates that half of UK Jews fear that there is no future for them in Britain. At the same time, a YouGov poll indicates that 45 per cent of the British public agreed with at least one of four anti-Semitic statements which were presented to them. They include the allegation that loyalty to Israel makes Jews less loyal to Britain than their compatriots. Meanwhile, the Times reports that there was a 20 per cent increase in the number of UK Jews immigrating to Israel in 2014, in the same year in which a 40 per cent increase was recorded in the number of anti-Semitic attacks. 620 Jewish people moved to Israel in 2014 in comparison to 520 in 2013.

The Financial Times includes an analysis of the dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the latter’s application to join the International Criminal Court (ICC). Both Israel and the United States have strongly opposed the move as undermining bilateral peace negotiations and as a result, Israel has frozen the transfer of tax money it collects on behalf of the PA. However, the article says that punitive measures are unlikely to extend further as there is a “symbiosis” between Israel and the PA which both sides wish to maintain.

The Times reports a serious clash between Iran’s President Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei over the country’s economic future. Rouhani reportedly wishes to end Iran’s isolation, while Khamenei favours a “resistance economy.”

The Guardian, Financial Times and Telegraph all cover the decision yesterday by an Egyptian court to order a re-trial in the embezzlement case of former-President Hosni Mubarak. The decision means that Mubarak has successfully challenged all convictions against him and there is speculation he may even be released in due course, having been ousted from power during the Arab Spring of 2011.

In the Israeli media, Israel Hayom leads with yesterday’s funeral in Jerusalem for the victims of last week’s Paris terror attack. The headline reads “Hebrew and French tears.” Yesterday’s ceremony is also prominently covered by Haaretz, Yediot Ahronot and Maariv.

Yediot Ahronot also includes an exclusive item by Itamar Eichner, who reports that residents of southern Israel have been given the green light to testify before the committee headed by Canadian jurist William Schabas, which the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed to investigate Operation Protective Edge. Although Israel is officially not cooperating with the enquiry on account of the UNHRC’s consistent record of hostility towards Israel and Schabas’s previous publicly stated opposition to Israel, the report indicates that Israel is giving support to unofficial efforts to impact the enquiry.

Israel Radio news reports the results of the Labour Party primaries to select its list of Knesset candidates. Shelly Yachimovich secured the third slot behind party leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnuah head Tzipi Livni on the joint slate. Current MKs Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuely are in fourth and fifth places respectively. Both were prominent young leaders of the 2011 social protest movement.