The Guardian online reports that various campaigns to boycott Israel or exclude the country from international forums has taken centre stage in Israeli public and media debate. The article explains that although the Palestinian Football Association eventually dropped its motion last week to suspend Israel from FIFA, football’s world governing body, the initiative has sparked Israeli fears over a variety of efforts to delegitimise or boycott the country. In particular, the online editions of the Telegraph and Independent report that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday publicly condemned this week’s symbolic motion adopted by the National Union of Students to boycott Israel.

The Times covers an interview given by US President Barack Obama to Israel’s Channel Two, in which he defended the nascent nuclear deal with Iran and also said that the conditions demanded by Prime Minister Netanyahu for a diplomatic solution with the Palestinian Authority (PA) are “unrealistic” and that without the prospect of a resumption of peace talks it would become increasingly difficult to defend Israel in international forums.

The Guardian online reports that the trial began yesterday in Jerusalem of three Jewish Israeli extremists accused of the brutal murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khedir in East Jerusalem last summer, a crime which was formally recognised by Israel as an act of terrorism. The crime, which was apparently carried out as an act of revenge for the murder just days before of three Israeli teenagers, was unequivocally condemned across the Israeli political spectrum.

The Independent online notes that Baroness Anelay, a Foreign Office minister said in response to a parliamentary question, that Egypt should open the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian government has overseen an almost total closure of the Rafah crossing during 2015, the sole gateway between Egypt and Gaza.

In the Israeli media, campaigns to delegitimise Israel are again headline news. The top story in Maariv and Israel Hayom, also covered prominently by Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz, is statements made during a press conference in Cairo yesterday by Orange CEO Stephane Richard, who said that he would cancel “tomorrow if I could” his company’s franchise agreement in Israel. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, commentator Ben-Dror Yemini, who has keenly highlighted efforts to denigrate Israel, says “Orange’s CEO would not have spoken in support of a boycott had it not been for the atmosphere that the mendacious propaganda has succeeded in fostering.”

Another major item, which leads in Yediot Ahronot and is also highlighted by Haaretz and Israel Hayom, is the firing of three rockets yesterday evening from the Gaza Strip at Israel. The rockets landed harmlessly in the Sdot Negev region but sirens sent local residents hurrying for safety. Israel responded with air strikes on three terror training sites in Gaza. Israel Radio news says that a Salafist group called the Omar Brigade, which is sympathetic towards ISIS said it fired the rockets in response to Hamas’s crackdown on its members.

Meanwhile, Yediot Ahronot says that an IDF assessment believes that Hezbollah has been significantly weakened by its support for President Assad in Syria and has lost around 2,000 fighters battling alongside Assad’s troops. However, the terror group still has an estimated 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel.