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Media Summary

21/12/2015

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The Times, Financial Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Metro all cover the killing of notorious Hezbollah-affiliated terrorist Samir Kuntar in an air strike on a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus. Kuntar spent 30 years in an Israeli prison, having carried out a high-profile terror attack in 1979 in which Kuntar killed a father and daughter, battering the 4-year-old to death. He was released as part of a deal to retrieve the bodies of two Israeli soldiers in 2008 and resumed his terror activities upon release. Kuntar is thought to have been building a network in the Syrian Golan Heights to target Israel. However, Israel would not confirm whether it had carried out the attack which killed Kuntar. Four rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel yesterday, in what was thought to be a reprisal for Kuntar’s death.

The Guardian online covers the resignation yesterday of Israel’s Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, in the wake of growing accusations of sexual misconduct. As many as seven women last week claimed that Shalom had forced sexual conduct upon them. Shalom yesterday denied the claims, but announced that he was leaving his ministerial post and the Knesset so as to avoid more harm to his family. The article emphasises that Shalom will be replaced in the Knesset by the Likud Party’s first openly gay MK, 39-year-old lawyer Amir Ohana.

The Independent includes a feature which reports poor school conditions in East Jerusalem’s Arab neighbourhoods, claiming that such neglect from the municipality is fuelling frustration among Arab locals and is linked to the current violence, which has seen numerous attacks on Israelis in Jerusalem.

The Times online covers a report by Human Rights Watch, which says that Russian and Syrian forces are routinely deploying banned cluster munitions, which have killed civilians in Syria in more than 20 cases. Meanwhile, the online editions of the Guardian and Independent both report that Russian airstrikes in the north eastern rebel-held city of Idlib have killed as many as 73 people in a residential area.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot leads with the killing of Samir Kuntar and its aftermath. The story is also covered prominently in Haaretz, Israel Hayom and in Maariv, which says that Hezbollah is expected to retaliate at some point. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Yossi Melman concludes that “the reason he [Kuntar] was assassinated was apparently not because of his past despicable acts but rather his present danger and his future potential to continue to try to carry out acts of terror against Israel.”

The other major story this morning, which leads in Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom is the resignation yesterday of Silvan Shalom. Israel Radio says that the Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein has ordered that the police examine the claims made against Shalom by at least seven women. Writing on the front page of Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon says that after 23 years of public service, in numerous high-profile ministerial roles, Shalom “must feel like Samson after his locks of hair were cut. He has been stripped of the source of his power and strength.”

Haaretz highlights that an official appointments committee has approved current Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit as the sole candidate to become Israel’s next Attorney General. Madelblit is also the former-chief IDF prosecutor. He is also thought to be the favoured candidate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel Radio news says that Turkey is insisting on its demands, including an end to restrictions on the Gaza Strip, before normalising relations with Israel. It was reported last week that the two countries are close to a reconciliation, with diplomatic ties cut five years ago.