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Media Summary

06/02/2015

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The Independent i and the online edition of the Guardian both report that three Israeli diplomats are to be disciplined by the Foreign Ministry for public expressions of criticism aimed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government ministers via social media. One of the diplomats involved is Israel’s Ambassador to Switzerland, who re-tweeted a message criticizing Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation to address Congress next month, claiming that it harmed US-Israel relations as it was a move which irked the White House. Civil servants in Israel are prohibited from publicly expressing political views.

The Guardian online also touches on the controversy surrounding Netanyahu’s scheduled address, saying that three Democrat legislators have already said that they will not attend Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, effectively a protest against the event and that there is suggestion more could follow suit including Vice President Joe Biden.

The Telegraph reports that Jordan continues to grieve for the captured pilot brutally burned alive and murdered by ISIS. The online editions of the Times, Telegraph and Independent all say that Jordanian jets yesterday increased the number of sorties and struck ISIS targets in Syria, including the location where the pilot was murdered. In another apparent measure targeting ISIS, the Guardian online says that Jordan has released from prison a jihadi cleric known for his outspoken criticism of ISIS.

The Times says that the al-Qaeda affiliated opposition group in Syria, the al-Nusra Front, has carved out a fiefdom in the north Syrian area of Idlib and is increasingly imposing its version of Islamist law in a manner reminiscent of ISIS.

The Guardian online covers comments made by Iran’s President Rouhani, who yesterday claimed that Iran does not need nuclear weapons and that those countries which do possess such capability are no more secure for it.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Yediot Ahronot and Maariv is the apparent intention of three Democrat legislators not to attend Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress next month. Both newspapers refer to the move as a threatened “boycott.” Israel Radio news reports that the leader of the House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi said that she currently intends to attend but stressed that there is significant discomfort over the issue. Israel Hayom includes an interview with Senator John McCain who places his support firmly behind Netanyahu’s decision to accept the invitation and is quoted saying it is “vital that Netanyahu speak and explain that the US is on the way to a bad deal” with Iran over its nuclear programme.

In an exclusive report, Haaretz says that Uruguay has expelled an Iranian diplomat over suspicions that he was involved in placing an explosive device near the Israeli Embassy in Montevideo in January.

There are two conflicting polls this morning ahead of next month’s general election. Yediot Ahronot says that its survey suggests that the Zionist Union will be the largest party with 25 seats, followed closely by Likud on 24 seats. However, a poll in Maariv indicates that Likud will be the largest party with 26 seats, ahead of Zionist Union’s 22 seats. Meanwhile, the NRG news site speculates that Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed Likud colleagues not to attack Yisrael Beitenu for fear that the party will not pass the electoral threshold, harming the right-wing bloc as a whole.