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Media Summary

24/07/2015

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The Telegraph, Independent i and the online edition of the Guardian all report a clash on Wednesday night between the IDF and local Palestinians in the West Bank town of Beit Omar, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian man and wounded another. The IDF says that soldiers were attacked as they attempted to carry out an arrest and opened fire under attack, while local Palestinians say that the man was shot instantly following a minor altercation.

The Independent and Independent i note that a year after Operation Protective Edge, the Palestinian Housing Minister announced that the first home is being rebuilt in the Gaza Strip, following the destruction of last summer’s conflict.

In another report, the Independent and Independent i both report that Yisrael Beitenu MK Robert Ilyatov, who was this week elected to the Judicial Appointments Committee, said that he won’t support Supreme Court justices who refuse to sing Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah. His comment was directed at Arab judges, as some Israeli Arabs do not sing the anthem which focuses on Jewish sentiments. The articles say that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented that he supports the position of Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who said that the issue of the anthem is irrelevant but that Supreme Court judges must believe in Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.

The Guardian and the online edition of the Financial Times cover yesterday’s hearing at the US Senate foreign relations committee, which saw US Congress begin to analyse the nuclear deal agreed last week with Iran. US Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior officials were questioned by the committee, including Republicans hostile to the agreement, who accused Kerry and his colleagues of having been “fleeced” and “bamboozled” by Iran.

Writing in the Guardian, Ali Ansari of St Andrews University warns that the nuclear deal will not transform Iranian attitudes towards the United States and nor will it alter the country’s fundamental political structure. The Times, Independent and Guardian online cover an Amnesty International report documenting a spike in the number of executions in Iran this year, almost 700 so far. The Guardian online also says that the UN’s special rapporteur has urged Iran’s Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani to make progress on the country’s human rights record.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Israel Hayom, which is also covered prominently in Maariv and Yediot Ahronot, is the first US Congressional hearing over the Iran nuclear deal, which took place yesterday at the Senate foreign relations committee. Congress has 56 days to consider and vote on the agreement, but would need a two thirds majority to override a presidential veto on the accord.

Yediot Ahronot also covers a widespread report that Israel last year supplied Jordan with 16 Cobra combat helicopters to help the Hashemite Kingdom’s fight against ISIS. Alex Fishman says that the revelation, which has not been confirmed by either side, is nonetheless evidence of “the special and close relationship that has been forged between Israel and Jordan in the past years.”

Also in Yediot Ahronot, it is reported that the leaders of 14 West Bank councils are launching a public campaign protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent de facto freeze on settlement construction. In recent weeks, settler leaders have complained virulently that the government is preventing them from further building. The council leaders will reportedly launch an advertising campaign and hold a demonstration outside Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea.