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Media Summary

13/07/2015

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The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, Daily Mail and Independent i all report that an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) over Tehran’s nuclear development is imminent following substantial progress in talks in Vienna over the weekend. All reports say that an announcement is expected as early as today and that Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond is expected to return to Vienna today to join the final stage of the talks. However, the Times says that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei commented that the struggle against America and the West will continue regardless of a nuclear deal. Meanwhile, the Telegraph includes a feature on Iran’s economy, concluding that it is poised to boom should an agreement be finalised.

The Telegraph and Independent i both report that Israeli police have arrested three suspects in connection with the recent arson attack at the Church of the Multiplication on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The identities of those arrested remain under a gag order, but the attack is thought to have been a hate crime. The Telegraph quotes Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who described the arson as an “attack on us all.”

The Telegraph, Times, Metro and the online edition of the Guardian all report that Israel has freed senior Islamic Jihad member Khader Adnan, after he agreed to end a 55-day hunger strike. Adnan was protesting at being held under administrative detention, a legal framework which allows Israel to indefinitely hold prisoners arrested for security purposes.

The Times covers footage released yesterday by the Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem, which shows the build up to last week’s deadly shooting of a 17-year-old Palestinian man in Ramallah by a senior IDF officer, after his military vehicle came under attack by a group throwing rocks.

The Guardian includes an op-ed by Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub, who says that as polls consistently show, Israelis want peace. However, persistent criticism of Israel’s government and pressure to accept terms without resolving justified security concerns, does nothing to help make peace a reality.

Meanwhile, the Independent online says that Prime Minister David Cameron is set to announce increased SAS missions, drone operations and RAF strikes targeting ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

In the Israeli media, the imminent nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers is the lead item in Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom, which carries a stark front-page warning from Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon that the deal would represent an “historic mistake.” Israel Radio news suggests that the provision within the agreement for international inspections is seriously flawed. Writing in Maariv, Yossi Melman cautions that the agreement has not yet been finalised, saying “not all of the issues in contention have been resolved yet.”

Meanwhile, Maariv and Yediot Ahronot both report prominently on the increasing pressure being placed on Binyamin Brigade Commander Col. Yisrael Shomer who two weeks ago shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian in Ramallah after his vehicle was attacked by locals throwing rocks. B’Tselem yesterday released footage which placed a focus on the incident again. Maariv says that the head of IDF Central Command yesterday publicly backed Shomer’s actions.

The top story in Yediot Ahronot is a claim that all planes flying to Israel’s southernmost city Eilat have been equipped with a missile defence system following the increased threat of ISIS-affiliated terror groups in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which borders Eilat.