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Media Summary

18/02/2015

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There is widespread coverage of a report published yesterday by the State Comptroller into spending by the Netanyahu family at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem and the family home in Caesarea, following accusations of excessive and frivolous waste of public money. As reported by the Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Times, Daily Mail and Independent i, the report found that there was “likely a waste of public funds” and grounds to pass the report to the Attorney General to consider criminal proceedings. Although the Guardian says that the report is “potentially highly damaging” for Netanyahu, just one month before Israel’s general election, most experts quoted in this morning’s reports doubt whether it will have a significant electoral impact.

The Daily Mirror includes an eyewitness report by Chris Hughes from Gaza, who is compiling a series of articles to assess Gazan life six months after Operation Protective Edge. He documents witnessing the arrival recently of three Palestinian boys at Al-Shifa Hospital, who were injured in an explosion near the border with Israel.

The Times reports that the leader of Preston council blamed a rise in antisemitism on Israel in correspondence over his decision to fly the Palestinian flag over Preston town hall during the summer Gaza conflict. The revelation comes after correspondence was made public surrounding complaints over the controversial decision.

The Independent says that a handful of pro-Palestinian protestors succeeded in shutting down for some time the Instro Precision factory in Kent, with the company owned by Israeli defence giant Elbit Systems.

Metro covers a video clip produced by a reporter for the Israeli NRG website, in which he dressed as an observant Jew and documented a day walking through Paris. He encountered numerous incidents of threatening anti-Semitic behaviour and abuse on account of his appearance.

The Guardian online reports that a record haul of 2,000 historic gold coins has been found by divers near the Israeli coastal down of Caesarea. The coins, which are described as priceless, date back around 1,000 years.

Elsewhere in the region, the Guardian online reports that the United Nations mediator says that Syria’s President Assad has agreed to stop bombing the city of Aleppo for a six-week period to test a tentative local ceasefire arrangement. The Telegraph online suggests that the United States and Turkey are planning to train relatively moderate rebel forces in Syria to call in US-led air strikes on ISIS targets. The online editions of the Guardian and Independent say that Egypt’s President al-Sisi has called on the US and European countries to join his country’s air strikes against ISIS in Libya.

In the Israeli media, the top item is yesterday’s State Comptroller’s report into the Netanyahu family expenses. It is the lead story in Maariv, Haaretz and in Israel Hayom, which includes the front page headline “The report and the furore.” Israel Radio news says that the Attorney General is set to investigate material forwarded by the State Comptroller regarding several aspects of the expenses. There is plenty of commentary on the affair. In Maariv, Kalman Liebskind says that there is little substance to the report, especially as no clear rules exist regarding such expenses. Conversely though, Sima Kadmon in Yediot Ahronot says “the issue here is not the house, but the people who live in it” while Maariv’s Ben Caspit concludes that the affair shows “Netanyahu is unfit to lead our country.”

The top story in Yediot Ahronot, which is also covered prominently in Maariv and Israel Hayom is the death yesterday of four-year-old Adele Biton, who was seriously injured in a terror attack two years ago when Palestinian youths threw stones at the car she was in, causing a serious accident. She succumbed to a lung infection yesterday which her injuries left her unable to fight.

Israel Radio news says that the ultra-Orthodox political parties have all agreed to recommend that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form the next government following next month’s election. The decision reportedly comes after Netanyahu agreed to drop criminal charges against ultra-Orthodox students who refuse to enlist in the military.