The BBC, Sky News, the Guardian, Independent, Mail Online and Telegraph report the news that the Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched a formal investigation into the Labour Party over allegations of antisemitism. The BBC reports that the watchdog told the party in March it had received a number of complaints and was considering its next steps. It will now formally look into whether Labour has “unlawfully discriminated against, harassed or victimised people because they are Jewish”. Labour’s shadow equalities minister says the party will “fully co-operate”. Dawn Butler said: “The Labour Party at its heart and core is an anti-racist party… so I see this as a way of ensuring, with the scrutiny of the EHRC, that the Labour Party’s rules and policies are robust and fair.” She added that the investigation would help Labour “build trust with the Jewish community”. Former Labour Cabinet Minister and MP, Clare Short told BBC Newsnight that: “There’s been a widening of the definition of antisemitism to include criticism of Israel” and “There’s not a lot of antisemitism in the Labour Party.”

The Guardian reports that Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rejected a plea from the Foreign Office to hand over £400m owed by the UK government to Iran from a 30-year-old sale of British tanks, saying it is not prepared to give the money to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The case is important because if the money were transferred, as an international arbitration court has ruled it should be, it is more likely that the jailed British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be released. Ministerial sources say that successive defence secretaries Sir Michael Fallon and Gavin Williamson have opposed releasing the payment, saying they are not prepared to hand over the money because they claim it will end up in the hands of Iranian forces determined to pursue malign military agenda in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. Iranian authorities have not made an explicit link between the outstanding payment and the fate of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is serving a five-year jail sentence for espionage, but in private Iranians cite the £400m as one reason for the lack of trust between Tehran and London. The UK and Iran put their legal arguments about the payment to a high court hearing last week and a ruling is expected soon.

The Times reports that Israel’s opposition Blue and White bloc has attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to hold an election only seven weeks after the last one. “Dissolving the Knesset is an affront to the law,” Yair Lapid, co-leader of Blue and White, said yesterday. Netanyahu has until midnight to form a coalition. If he cannot, the Knesset could be dissolved and a new election called, or President Reuven Rivlin will either allow him two more weeks or find someone else to form a government. Members of Netanyahu’s Likud party have tabled an emergency private member’s bill to dissolve parliament. It passed in its first reading on Monday but is not certain to get through at its final reading, scheduled for today. That has angered Blue and White, which wants Benny Gantz, another co-leader, to have a chance to form a government.

The Financial Times reports that Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman publicly feuded over the formation a new Israeli government, with time running out for the pair to agree a deal and the threat of fresh elections hanging over negotiations. The four-time Prime Minister has sought to shame Lieberman into abandoning a long-held demand that members of the ultra-Orthodox community enlist in the military, insisting the intransigence of the Yisrael Beitenu leader risked a leftwing government.

The Times reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said every Jewish institution in Germany requires police protection amid a surge in antisemitic violence. The Chancellor, who has said it is her “daily duty” to protect her country’s Jews, warned today “dark forces” were on the rise in Germany and Europe. “There is not a single synagogue, not a single daycare centre for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen,” she told CNN. “Unfortunately, there has always been a certain number of antisemites among us.” Merkel was responding to remarks by Felix Klein, the national antisemitism commisioner, who said at the weekend that in some parts of Germany it was dangerous for Jews to wear the kippa. Yesterday the government called on Germans to demonstrate solidarity with the Jewish community this weekend by wearing kippas on Quds day, an annual anti-Israel protest instigated by Iran. “I call on all citizens everywhere in Germany to put on a kippa on Saturday, when hatred will be stirred up in Berlin against Israel and against Jews on Quds day,” Klein said.

Reuters reports that US President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday ahead of talks scheduled for Wednesday, he said in a tweet, amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. “Just landed in the UAE. Looking forward to meeting with our Emirati allies tomorrow to discuss important and timely regional security matters”. Separately on Tuesday Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country was ready to engage in dialogue with Gulf Arab countries in order to address the escalating tensions during a visit to Doha, the final stop in a three-country tour that included Kuwait and Oman. Saudi Arabia will host two emergency Arab summits in Mecca on May 30 to discuss the implications of recent drone strikes on oil installations in the kingdom, and the vessel attacks off the UAE coast.

Reuters reports that on Wednesday, John Bolton said that attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this month were the work of “naval mines almost certainly from Iran”. The UAE has not yet blamed anyone for the sabotage of four vessels, including two Saudi tankers, which was followed two days later by drone strikes on oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh accused Tehran of ordering the strikes, which were claimed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement. Iran has denied involvement in either attack. “I think it is clear these (tanker attacks) were naval mines almost certainly from Iran,” Bolton told reporters in Abu Dhabi but declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation in which the United States is taking part.

The Times reports that bombing by Assad and Russian forces in the Syrian province of Idlib has intensified, killing scores of civilians and hitting a string of hospitals as a ground advance becomes bogged down with heavy casualties. Pro-regime media said yesterday that troops loyal to the Syrian President and supported by Russian advisers had taken the key town of Kafra Naboudeh on the southeast of the Idlib pocket. It is the third time the town has changed hands since a regime advance into the rebel-held territory began last month. It has come at a heavy cost. Facebook pages from the province of Latakia, homeland of the Alawite minority group to which Assad belongs and which is the core of his support, have posted tributes to men killed in the battle for Kafra Naboudeh. Between 300-400 regime soldiers are thought to have died since the advance began.

Reuters reports that on Tuesday, France’s Foreign Minister said there were signs that chemicals had been used in attacks by Syrian government forces on rebels in northwest Syria, but they still needed to be verified. The United States said on 23 May it had received numerous reports that appeared consistent with chemical exposure after forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched an offensive on the rebel stronghold. “We have a sign of the use of chemical weapons in the Idlib area but for now there isn’t verification,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee. “We are cautious because we think that the use of chemical weapons must be confirmed and lethal before we react,” he said.

The Telegraph and Independent report that a British terrorist has admitted his role in the “ISIS Beatles” for the first time, as he confessed to helping plan a London terror plot. The Telegraph reports that London-raised Alexanda Kotey, 35, fled to Syria in 2012 and, along with Jihadi John, became part of the terror cell nicknamed the Beatles by hostages due to their British accents. Kotey on Tuesday admitted his role in the terror group, which included extracting information from Western hostages such as Briton Alan Henning and American James Foley. He forced hostages to share the email addresses of relatives so ISIS could “open up communication” and inform them that their loved ones were being held. Kotey, who has been detained by Kurdish forces for the past 16 months, also confessed to his part in a plot to kill soldiers and police in drive-by shootings at Shepherd’s Bush police station and the Parachute Regiment Territorial Army Barracks at White City in London.

In the Financial Times, David Gardner argues that Turkey’s President Erdogan is caught between two fires, as rows with Russia and the US over defence procurement could turn into a crisis for the president.

The Guardian reports that a possible US-backed thaw in Qatari-Saudi relations has been signalled by Qatari diplomats travelling to Saudi Arabia to lay the ground for their country’s attendance at a major summit in Jeddah on alleged Iranian aggression in the region. Qatar’s attendance will be seen as the biggest rapprochement between the two countries since the Saudis launched a sweeping economic and political blockade against the gas-rich country two years ago, accusing Doha of trying to undermine Saudi Arabia, fund terrorism and promote the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East. King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia invited Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to attend the emergency Gulf Cooperation Council summit on Iran’s alleged role in attacking Gulf shipping and oil installations. The summit will be held on Thursday in Jeddah, and a Qatari plane carrying one of its diplomats was allowed to land in the Red Sea port city for the first time in two years on Monday to prepare for Qatar’s attendance.

The Independent reports that the gay dating app Grindr has been blocked for most users in Lebanon, sparking concern over a widening crackdown on the LGBT+ community in the country. The social networking app, which connects users based on their location, went offline for users of the state-owned internet service provider over the weekend and has been unusable since.

The Guardian reports that according to a letter of claim that has been sent to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and seen by the newspaper, Saudi Arabia has been accused of launching a sophisticated hacking attack against a prominent dissident in London who is allegedly living under police protection. The letter of claim, which was delivered to the Saudi embassy in London on Tuesday, was sent on behalf of the Saudi satirist Ghanem Almasarir, and alleges he was targeted by Saudi Arabia with malware developed by the NSO Group, the controversial Israeli surveillance company. NSO’s Pegasus software has allegedly been used by Saudi Arabia and other governments to target journalists, human rights campaigners and political activists.

All the Israeli media focus on domestic political drama. Yediot Ahronot asks “elections or government”, while also highlighting Moshe Kahlon’s “zigzag”. The paper quoted Kahlon from about a month ago, after the election, saying that his party would not join with the Likud. “The Kulanu party is independent and will continue to be independent. Kulanu will continue serving the public as an independent party,” he promised. “We came here to be partners, not employees.”  The paper also highlights disagreements within the Likud.

Likud Central Committee Chairman Minister Haim Katz boycotted yesterday’s meeting, and Minister Gilad Erdan and MK Gidon Saar also did not attend. New MKs Ariel Kellner and Michal Shir have challenged the agreement. Israel Hayom suggests the political drama will run until the last minute, whilst also highlighting criticism of Kahlon. Maariv notes that the Knesset will begin the debate to dissolve itself at 12:00 today. While MK Uri Maklev, United Torah Judaism, filed an objection to the decision last night demanding that the elections be held on August 27 or September 3. “The deciding factor for us is the Hebrew date and we would like the date to be one of those days so that it does not interrupt yeshiva study and school.”

Maariv reports that the cost of dissolving the Knesset and holding new elections would be at least NIS 475 million (£104m). Central Elections Committee Chairwoman Orly Adas said yesterday at the debate to dissolve the Knesset that holding early elections would make it difficult to recruit the 1,000 employees necessary to staff the various positions needed for the elections. She made it clear that the elections committee for the 21^st Knesset was still functioning and that it had not yet completed all of its assignments, which include issuing payments to suppliers and learning lessons ahead of the next election campaign.

In the commentary, Ben Caspit in Maariv writes: “Moshe Kahlon is about to undergo the hazing of his life. There is almost nothing that he can now do or say that will be able to explain the huge flip-flop that he made right in front of our eyes…  What Kahlon did makes me somewhat sad, but it is still too early for the historic verdict.  He had two choices: join the Likud or oppose early elections… As I see it, he should have chosen the second option, of being the child who shouts ‘the emperor has no clothes’ and pointing out the madness that Binyamin Netanyahu is taking the country. Without Kulanu’s four votes, Netanyahu would have found it difficult to call early elections. Had Kahlon not joined, this might have created some stirring among the Likud back benches and in other places. He would have spared us this unnecessary event and would have enabled the president to assign the task of forming the government to another Likud MK. But Kahlon chose the first option. He preferred to fade away in the Likud rather than fade away in the elections.” Yediot Ahronot, takes a more critical tone: “If I were among the 140,000 people who voted for Kulanu in the last elections, I would be suing Kahlon this morning in a class action suit for breaking his election promises. They voted for a politician who promised that he would not join a government whose Prime Minister was under indictment, and yesterday he secured for himself a position under such a Prime Minister. He promised that he would not join the Likud, that he would be a partner, not a salaried employee, and instead, he ensured himself the number five spot on the Likud Knesset list if elections are held….This man is now going to be in a government that intends to pass anti-democratic legislation whose entire purpose is to save the prime minister from indictment. It seems to me that this is a blatant violation of his agreement with his voters, not to say fraud.”

Yediot Ahronot reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting last night at his office with Supreme Court President Esther Hayut and with Deputy Supreme Court President Hanan Melcer. The two justices agreed to a request by the Prime Minister to meet with them. A statement released after the meeting said that the attendees cited the importance of holding a respectful dialogue between the authorities. Justices Hayut and Melcer stressed the importance of maintaining the independence of the judicial branch. The Prime Minister said that it was important to keep a proper balance between the branches of government while maintaining communication between them.

This morning Kan news reports that Israel has again reduced the size of the Palestinians’ fishing zone in the Gaza Strip. The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) informed the Palestinians that their fishing zone has been restricted to just 10 nautical miles as a result of the launch of incendiary balloons yesterday. Two fires that were caused by incendiary balloons broke out in the Beeri Forest in the Eshkol Regional Council yesterday. Firefighters were able to control the fires. The Palestinians launched dozens of incendiary balloons towards Israel yesterday. Despite the attacks, deputy Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Hayya said that the agreements with Israel were being kept.