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Media Summary

26/01/2016

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The Guardian online reports that an Israeli woman was critically injured yesterday when two Palestinians stabbed two people near a mini-market in a West Bank settlement. It is reported this morning that the main victim of the attack succumbed to her wounds this morning and died. The assailants were shot dead at the scene by a security guard. It was the latest attack in a wave of violence which began in October and has seen at least 28 Israelis killed.

The Independent online covers a Haaretz report which suggests that Israel’s Supreme Planning Council of the Civil Administration has approved 153 new housing units in the West Bank. The decision, which comprises just one of several planning stages, would apparently be the first time that the body has approved such construction in 18 months.

The Independent i and the online edition of the Guardian both report that Canada’s new Liberal government announced that it has delivered a “tough message” to its’ “good friend” Israel over the recent violence and West Bank settlement construction. Canada’s previous Conservative government was considered extremely supportive of Israel.

The Times covers an annual report on anti-Semitism by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry, headed by Jewish home leader Naftali Bennett, which suggests that 40 per cent of Europeans hold anti-Semitic views.

The Financial Times says that Israeli companies are winning a growing share of global venture capital funding, especially in the burgeoning area of cyber security.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph and the online editions of the Guardian and Financial Times cover Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Europe, which closely follows the lifting of Iranian nuclear sanctions. Rouhani landed yesterday in Rome and will also travel to France. The Telegraph online covers an Amnesty International report which says that dozens of juvenile offenders in Iran are facing the death penalty.

In Syria, the Guardian online reports that President Assad’s troops, aided by Russian air support, have retaken territory near the city of Latakia.

In the Israeli media, the stabbing which killed a woman in the West Bank community of Beit Horon is the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom. The headline in Maariv quotes a security official on the scene who said that the attackers “came intending to massacre.” Meanwhile, Israel Hayom focuses on a local resident who stopped the terrorists from entering a mini-market by fending them off with a shopping trolley, with the headline “heroism versus hatred.”

Israel Radio news says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the security establishment to prepare a detailed and comprehensive plan for protecting West Bank settlements, with yesterday’s attack the third within such a community in the past week. Commenting in Yediot Ahronot, Yossi Yehoshua concludes “there is no operational solution for this wave, which is comprised of terrorists with no infrastructure or organisation behind them, who are incited by the institutionalised and other media—‎only a political solution.”

In other news, Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Israel Hayom all report that the police investigation into alleged sexual harassment by former-Jewish Home MK Yinon Migal has been closed. Migal resigned his Knesset seat after several women accused him of inappropriate behaviour during his time as a journalist prior to entering parliament.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio news covers comments by France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who said that Paris opposes attempts to impose sanctions on Israel. He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the assassination of former-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The ceremony was also attended by Zionist Union head and leader of Israel’s opposition, Isaac Herzog.