BBC News, the Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and Reuters report that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has launched a bid to rescue the JCPOA and ease tensions in the Gulf. Hunt will meet EU foreign ministers in Brussels to raise concerns about Iran breaching its commitments. It comes amid heightened tensions after the UK seized an Iranian oil tanker. On Saturday, Hunt said the Iranian tanker detained by Royal Marines near Gibraltar could be released if the UK is guaranteed the oil is not bound for Syria. At a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, Hunt will work with the European partners of the deal – France and Germany – to encourage Iran to stick to its pledges. Reuters reports that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has stated that Iran’s breaching of caps on its uranium enrichment was “a bad reaction to [a] bad decision”, raising fears of a “stumble into war”.

BBC News, the Times, Independent and Reuters report that Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz has said he believes “gay conversion therapy” can work, triggering widespread condemnation. “I think it’s possible,” Peretz, an Orthodox rabbi said. He added that he had “a very deep familiarity with the issue”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said such remarks were “unacceptable”. Other politicians and gay groups also voiced criticism.

Reuters reports that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that Iran is ready to hold talks with the US if Washington lifts sanctions and returns to the JCPOA. The Trump administration has said it is open to negotiations with Iran on a more far-reaching agreement on nuclear and security issues. Reuters reports that the US has granted a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend a UN meeting in New York this week, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approving the decision. Had Pompeo not approved the visa, it could have been a signal that the US was trying to further isolate the Islamic Republic and closing the door to diplomacy.

Reuters reports that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has stated that US President Donald Trump has the authority to waive sanctions on Turkey for its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems and should find a “middle ground” in the dispute. Erdogan’s comments came two days after Turkey took delivery of the first consignment of S-400 parts, despite warnings from Washington that the move would trigger US sanctions.

The Mail on Sunday reports that former UK Ambassador to Washington Sir Kim Darroch wrote that President Trump abandoned the JCPOA as an act of ‘diplomatic vandalism’ to spite his predecessor, President Obama. Sir Kim’s claim is revealed in leaked cables and briefing notes which led to his resignation last week. The new revelation comes after a row over press freedom blew up this weekend, with Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt leading the condemnation of Scotland Yard over its threats to prosecute newspapers publishing the contents of the leaked material.

BBC News reports that the UN has called for the dismantling of all detention centres for refugees in Libya. The appeal comes nearly two weeks after more than 50 people were killed in an air strike on a holding facility in Tripoli. The UN refugee agency has called the facilities in the centres “awful”. Thousands of migrants are being held in dire conditions in government-run detention centres across Libya.

Reuters reports that a court has ordered a predominantly Jewish town in northern Israel to lift a ban on non-resident visitors to its parks, a prohibition that a rights group said was racially motivated. In instructing the town of Afula to lift the order, Judge Danny Sarfati cited a legal opinion by Israel’s Attorney General who said municipal parks were public property open to all. Afula imposed the prohibition a month ago, effectively cutting off access to the 10-hectare (25-acre) park by residents of nearby Arab villages who frequented the popular site. “This [ban] was really to exclude Palestinian citizens from entering the park,” said Fady Khoury, a lawyer with Adalah, an Arab rights group that raised the challenge in Nazareth district court.

The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to persuade dissidents living abroad to return to the kingdom with assurances about their safety upon return. The move comes nine months after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi which severely damaged the kingdom’s reputation, and represents an effort to prevent other Saudis voicing their concerns about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership. The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia will grant women the right to travel without a male guardian’s permission as the government moves to relax social restrictions amid growing international scrutiny after several young Saudi women fled the kingdom in recent months to seek asylum abroad.

Reuters reports that Israel has launched a tender for fifth-generation (5G) cellular frequencies, hoping discounts to cash-strapped mobile phone operators battling fierce competition will entice bids. The telecoms regulator expects three groups to bid, including a combination of operators to cut down on costs. It expects to announce winners by the end of the year with a commercial launch to start in 2020 and continuing through 2023. “We are aware of the companies’ current financial situation and the tender takes this into account,” said Communications Minister David Amsalem. The ministry has said 5G is necessary to develop health, agriculture and education, as well as smart cities and self-driving cars.

In the Independent, Simon Speakman Cordall interviews Mounir Baatour of Tunisia, the first openly gay man to run for president in a Muslim country: “I’m not talking about promoting homosexuality, just about decriminalising it. Gay people don’t do anyone any harm. They should be free to do what they want with their bodies”.

The Financial Times argues that Iran is falling into US President Donald Trump’s ‘trap’ with provocative steps that risk pushing European signatories to the JCPOA to side with the US:  “Iran’s increases in its nuclear activity appear incremental and are reversible. Tehran should not push the limits further, and should refrain from aggressive posturing. It must respect the international principle of freedom of navigation. A rerun of the ‘Tanker war’ of the 1980s will benefit no one”.

All the Israeli media report comments by Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz about conversion therapy for homosexuals. Maariv reports demonstrations against him in Tel Aviv yesterday where the anger and pain were palpable. Yediot Ahronot  notes that Peretz has clarified his position in a long Facebook post and that he had not voiced support for conversion therapy: “I didn’t say that I was in favour of the therapy, I said that I had referred students to professionals and seen that it was possible.” In his response yesterday, the minister attacked his critics, charging that there was a culture of “silencing,” as he put it. “Accepting others is not associated exclusively with one side. I have not forced, and do not intend to force, anything on anyone. Since entering politics, I have learned that there is truth and there is the world of Twitter. There is freedom of speech for statements of one kind, and freedom of incitement for those who explain a different, complex position. The responses to the interview were gut responses, and distorted my words, with cheap populism that mainly serves the perpetuation of the rift in Israeli society, and I regret that.”

Ben Dror Yemini writes in Yediot Ahronot: “The statements by Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz on ‘conversion therapy’ have attracted all the attention. I listened to them again. He said that he, as an educator, as a yeshiva dean, had embraced the students who had come to him. He said that he had proposed conversion therapy to them. He did not say that he would force anything. He said that it was the student’s choice. He said that representatives of psychiatric hospitals would not await the students. He also added that as education minister, he would continue to fund the Israel Gay Youth movement. Even without practical consequences, these are grave statements, and were justifiably criticised.  But the benighted opening was just the preamble to much more dangerous things: ‘I want to apply Israeli sovereignty to all of Judea and Samaria,’ Peretz said. He would make sure that the situation of the residents there would be good, but ‘they won’t be able to exercise political power.’ As God is my witness, it is difficult for me to write this, but there is no choice: This is exactly what people in South Africa said about apartheid for blacks. We will take care of them, but we will not give them rights. Word for word.   Israel is not an apartheid state. Time after time, the Palestinians were offered a state. Time after time they refused. This series of refusals is the basis for the continuation of the existing situation, and a constraint that requires Israel to hold onto the territories….Senior right wing figures—from President Reuven Rivlin to the late Moshe Arens, and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzippi Hotovely—have supported and still support application of sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. But they are at least honest enough to say: Not only annexation but also granting civil rights. This is a dangerous position. It is a position that could lead Israel to a binational reality. This is precisely the formula that will lead to the collapse of the Zionist vision. And it is only a matter of time until another Arab entity arises on the ruins of the binational entity. What failed in Yugoslavia and the Balkans will not succeed here.  But now a senior Israeli minister in the Israeli government comes along, a member of the security cabinet, and says: My vision is an apartheid state. Annexation—yes, rights—no. The problem is that he is not a marginal figure. His positions do not represent the government, certainly not a majority of Israel’s citizens, and probably not a majority of the national-religious camp.  But Israel is not only a democracy, it is also a minoritocracy. Political minorities have aggressive and coercive force. We should take it seriously.”

Yediot Ahronot speculates on political mergers on the left and the right with two and a half weeks to go before final party lists need to be submitted. As of this morning, a number of prominent figures have yet to decide on their future. In the centre-left bloc, the big question is whether or not Meretz and the Israel Democratic party will unite. Amir Peretz, Nitzan Horowitz and Ehud Barak agreed that at least one union will happen, but the move is delayed both because of the debate over the identity of the head of the united list and because of the aspiration – especially promoted by Peretz – to include Tzipi Livni. Peretz is interested in that union before joining forces with Meretz and Barak in order to reach a stronger and more secure negotiating position, but Livni is waiting to see that a process of greater unification is taking shape. In the right-wing bloc, all eyes are on Ayelet Shaked, who is deliberating between three options: to run alone, to unite the right-wing parties as No. 2 of Rafi Peretz and with a promise to take the most senior portfolio in the government on behalf of the party. Or, to return to the new right-wing party with Naftali Bennett as head of the party. The rightist bloc claims that the battle for the leadership of the right-wing parties has not been decided, and that Shaked is still the candidate for the premiership – both because of its popularity and because of Peretz’s recent statement about conversion therapy.

Maariv suggests, after Rabbi Peretz’s remarks, calls have increased among the right wing that he rethink his position as party leader. They quote an anonymous source from a right wing party who suggests that if Peretz continues to lead without merging with the New Right, his party would not cross the electoral threshold. “Who will vote for him? He’s lost the liberal Orthodox and the few secular and traditional supporters who voted for the Jewish Home from Bennett’s time are on their way out. Aiming solely for the national-Haredi electorate does not mean that you cross the electoral threshold. Particularly if you’re without Jewish Power.”

Channel 13 News reports a poll of religious Zionists in which an overwhelming majority preferred Ayelet Shaked as leader. 46.3 per cent want her as the leader, 16.6 per cent supported keeping Peretz as the leader, followed by 13.6 per cent or Smotrich and only 12.1 per cent for Bennett.

Israel Hayom reports an Israeli legal initiative that could make it difficult for European financial mechanisms to do business with Iran. The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) was established by Germany, UK and France with the goal of bypassing harsh economic sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran, and facilitating the transfer of money with the Islamic republic. The INSTEX special purpose vehicle began operating nearly two weeks ago, but now families of terror victims and the Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center – an NGO dedicated to “fighting terrorism and safeguarding Jewish rights worldwide” – have launched legal initiatives seeking to confiscate Iranian funds passing through INSTEX.  The plaintiffs are all Israeli and American victims of terror whose relatives were either murdered or wounded in attacks perpetrated in Israel by terrorist organizations funded by Iran, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas. The families have already been granted compensation upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars by federal courts in the US. In an unprecedented lawsuit, these families on Monday will file a lawsuit in the Court of Sessions in France, demanding that all money, oil or other goods belonging to Iran or earmarked for Iran via a third party, will be paid as compensation to the victims of terror as part of the enforcement of the American courts’ ruling.