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Media Summary

24/03/2015

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The Guardian and Independent report on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public apology to Israel’s Arab citizens for “hurt” caused to them by his election day warning to right-wing voters that “Arab voters are heading to the polls in droves.” Both newspapers quote Netanyahu’s remarks that “This was not my intention and I am sorry” and cite his reference to investments he has made in the Arab sector as Prime Minister. The Guardian focuses on the rejection of the apology by the new Arab Knesset faction, the Joint Arab List, which is a coalition of four pre-existing Arab parties and which is now the third largest party in the Knesset.

The Metro reports that Netanyahu has now received recommendations from parties representing the required 61 members of Knesset and so has been formally been charged by President Reuven Rivlin with forming a coalition government.

The Telegraph‘s David Blair reports on strong criticism of Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Sharif by conservative Iranian commentators and legislators. They accuse him of accepting the assumption that Iran’s nuclear program is a “threat to peace” by pushing for a UN Security Council Chapter VII resolution in the negotiations with the P5 + 1 group of world powers.

The Independent runs what will be the first of a series of reports by Kim Sengupta from Gaza, profiling a family who lived for seven months with an unexploded bomb dropped by an Israeli plane during the Operation Protective Edge conflict last summer.

The Guardian online covers the public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, issued by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough at the J-Street Conference in Washington DC yesterday. The top aide to President Barack Obama referred to Netanyahu’s apparent rejection of a two-state solution before the election, and his attempts to qualify that rejection in the days after the election as “contradictory comments” which “call into question his commitment to a two-state solution” and declared that “an occupation that has lasted for more almost 50 years must end.”

A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister David Cameron told the Guardian online that Cameron had reiterated Britain’s belief that a two-state solution was necessary to “achieve a lasting peace and to secure Israel’s long-term security and prosperity” in a phone conversation with Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, the website of the Independent reports that British Foreign Office minister Baroness Anelay has expressed concern at reported links between the Israel Antiquities Authority and Elad, a right-wing organisation dedicated to settling Jews in Arab areas of East Jerusalem. The report alleges that Jews are moving into Arab neighbourhoods on the false pretext of protecting archaeological sites.

The Israeli print and broadcast media is widely and prominently covering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apology for the offence caused to Arab Israelis with his comments on election day. Leading commentators, Nahum Barnea in Yediot Ahronot and Ben Caspit in Maariv offer qualified welcome for Netanyahu’s comments, but Barnea in particular stresses concerns at the damage that has already been done.

Ynet, Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post all cover the remarks by Obama’s Chief-of-Staff at the J-Street conference.

Ynet carries a report by Reuters that, in a session of the UN Human Rights Council, the European Union has called on Israel to cooperate with the Council’s special rapporteur and allow him into Gaza to investigate the accusations of war crimes made against Israel in the wake of Operation Protective Edge. The story mentioned that both Israel and the United States boycotted the debate with the US delegation saying that, as a matter of policy, they do not attend debates under item seven on the UNHRC’s agenda, which is automatically biased against Israel.

Israel Hayom reports on the 61 MKs now pledged to support Netanyahu as prime minister following the meetings of all parties with President Rivlin. The article quotes Moshe Kahlon, who leads the Kulanu party and was seen as the potential kingmaker in this election, endorsing Netanyahu. It also notes that Yesh Atid, another centrist party that was a major force in the last government, has confirmed it will sit in the opposition.

The website of The Jerusalem Post reports on a story from the Wall Street Journal alleging that Israel spied on the negotiation between Iran and the P5 +1  and used information from the espionage operation to make its case against the prospective deal. The report in the WSJ quotes an official from Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office denying the allegations as “utterly false”.