The Times, the Independent, the Daily Mail,BBC News Online, the Telegraph and the Daily Express report that the US-made F-35 stealth fighter has seen its first ever combat action, flying in an operation for the Israeli Air Force (IAF). The air force chief showed an image of jets over Beirut, Lebanon and said the planes had “already attacked twice on two different fronts”. Israel recently carried out scores of air strikes in Syria. The head of the IAF, Maj Gen Amikam Norkin told heads of 20 foreign air forces meeting in Israel: “We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts.” He did not specify the targets.

The Guardian, BBC News Online and the Independent report that the Palestinian Foreign Minister has called on the international criminal court to immediately open an investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and apartheid. Israel is not a signatory to the ICC and its foreign ministry said the country took “a severe view” of what it called an absurd and politicised referral, which it described as a cynical step. The Israeli foreign ministry said the Palestinian referral was legally invalid and insisted the ICC lacked jurisdiction over the Israeli-Palestinian issue, “since Israel is not a member of the court and because the Palestinian Authority is not a state”.

BBC News Online and the Daily Mail via AFP report that the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands has lodged a complaint over a parody of Israel’s Eurovision winner that criticised Israeli policies and prompted accusations of antisemitism. The skit about Netta Barzilai’s “Toy” was broadcast on Saturday during a primetime satirical show. The parody drew on violence on the Gaza border. The song, performed on Sanne Wallis de Vries’s show by Martine Sandifort, began with an imitation of Netta’s trademark chicken noises but then used a backdrop of footage involving Palestinian protests.The chicken-clucking of the original song is replaced with further references to money.  Israeli ambassador Aviv Shir-On told Dutch newspaper NRC that the content of the song was crude and offensive and that the programme “packages antisemitic stereotypes as jokes”.

BBC News Online reports that city councillors in Londonderry have voted to light up local government buildings in the colours of the Palestinian flag following violence in Gaza. The motion was passed at a special meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council on Monday. Civic buildings will be lit in black, white, green and red for a 48-hour period after the Sinn Féin motion passed by 22 votes to one. Sinn Fein councillor Sandra Duffy, who proposed the motion, said the vote will send a message of solidarity to the people of Palestine.

BBC News Online reports that a plane crash in Panama in 1994 that killed 21 people, many of them Jews, was the result of a terrorist incident, Panama’s president has said. Juan Carlos Varela said the evidence came from Israeli intelligence and he had asked for the case to be reopened. Prominent Jewish businessmen were among those on board the plane that crashed shortly after take-off on 19 July 1994. Speaking to reporters in Panama on Monday, Varela said he would ask local and international authorities to reopen the investigation into the plane crash, “given intelligence reports that clearly show it was a terrorist attack”. He has just returned from Israel, where he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

BBC News Online published photos by photographer Geraldine Hope Ghelli which focused on hitchhikers in the West Bank.

The Daily Mail and the Financial Times report that a senior Iranian military commander poured scorn on US threats to tighten sanctions saying the Iranian people would respond by punching US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the mouth. Pompeo said on Monday that Washington would impose new penalties if Tehran did not make sweeping changes, including dropping its nuclear program and pulling out of the Syrian civil war. When Pompeo issued a dozen demands of Iran, he described the requests as “very basic requirements” that were not “unreasonable”, but many observers disagreed. He framed his requirements as the basis of a grand bargain — seeking to extract massive concessions in exchange for a binding treaty that would deliver lasting economic and diplomatic benefits to Iran. But critics perceive something far more in the Trump administration’s insistence that Tehran give up everything from enriching uranium to its longstanding foreign policy, or else submit to crippling sanctions: a bid to oust the country’s leadership.

The Financial Times published a column by David Gardner that argues that hardliners are pushing Trump towards a regime change plan for Iran. He writes: “For all this administration’s bluster, moreover, the idea the US or even Israel, much less Saudi Arabia, would attack Iran directly is widely dismissed inside the Middle East. That keeps raising the question — and the alarm — of whether they will mount heavy attacks on Iran and its proxies in places like Syria and Lebanon, pouring more fuel on already roaring proxy war fires.”

The Financial Times published an editorial which argues that the US has been set on a collision course with Iran with many suspecting that the ultimate logic of Pompeo’s plan is to set the US and Iran on a path to war, foment regime change, or both.

The Daily Express reports that Israeli planes have carried out strikes on Gaza City, in a sign of escalating violence.

The Guardian published a review of Israeli television show “Fauda”. The review states that: “Fauda is frequently credited with evenhandedness over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and attempts to humanise Palestinian terror operatives”. It also argues that “it [is] overwhelmingly narrated from an Israeli viewpoint [and] focused on the Israeli protagonists. More so than in the first series, the Israeli occupation is nowhere to be seen – there’s no wall, no settlements or settlers, no house demolitions, only a few small checkpoints and none of the everyday brutalities of life under occupation. Yes, it shows that Palestinians love their mothers, but it also renders them as violent fanatics without a political cause.” They also compare the series to the television show “Homeland,” which was adapted from the Israeli television series “Prisoners of War”.

BBC News Online reports that NGO Human Rights Watch says the Egyptian army has greatly intensified the demolition of buildings and farms in North Sinai as part of its campaign against Islamist militants. The campaign group said satellite images showed that at least 3,000 homes and commercial premises had been destroyed since February and hundreds of hectares of land rendered useless.

In the Israeli media, Kan Radio News reports that the IAF attacked a Hamas tunnel before dawn this morning in the northern Gaza Strip as well as two targets belonging to Hamas’s naval force. IDF sources said that this was in response to the torching of a military position yesterday by terrorists who crossed the border fence and the ongoing attempts to fly multi-rotor devices and kites into Israeli territory to set fields ablaze and for terrorist purposes. Yesterday morning, the IDF attacked a Hamas observation post with tank fire in the southern Gaza Strip.

Kan Radio also reports that Egypt has been putting pressure on Hamas and the PA to be involved in the Gaza Strip, with the goal to promote international projects for water, electricity and health that were put on hold.

In a headline “F-35 Over Beirut,” Ma’ariv reports that on comments made by Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin at an IAF conference before guests from some 20 air forces from around the world. Norkin revealed for the first time that that the IAF has already deployed F-35 planes twice in attacks in the region.  A picture of the F-35 over Beirut was also shown to the audience, and Norkin’s remarks and the picture were quickly reported by the media. Writing in Israel Hayom, Yoav Limor argues that the main goal was “addressed to the radical axis of Tehran, Damascus and Beirut. It was not only meant to make clear that Israel has a weapon that none of its antagonists can cope with, because it can’t be seen, but that it has “reality-changing” means that will enable it to respond successfully to any aggressive act against it.”

Haaretz and Kan Radio News report on a diplomatic incident in which US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman was photographed next to an aerial photograph of Jerusalem that had been photo-shopped with the Jewish Temple replacing the Dome of the Rock. At the demand of the US embassy, the organistion, Ahiya, apologised and said that the official in question would be dealt with. The embassy said that Friedman was not aware of the photograph and that he was disappointed that his visit had been exploited to cause controversy. US Embassy spokeswoman Valerie O’Brien said that “Ambassador Friedman was not aware of the image thrust in front of him when the photo was taken. He was deeply disappointed that anyone would take advantage of his visit to Bnei Brak to create controversy. The US policy is absolutely clear: we support the status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.”

Maariv reports that Israel is furious as Palestinians turn to the International Criminal Court. It quotes Anat Berko of Likud who described it as “yet another pathetic attempt by the Palestinians to whitewash their acts of terrorism against Israel” and Itzik Shmuli from the Zionist Union who said, “This is a deplorable, cynical public relations ploy that lacks any moral or legal merit, which will only exacerbate tension and hostility between the two sides.”

Yediot Ahronoth reports that all security cabinet meetings are to be held in the National Crisis Management Center, a new underground bunker that is described as being “impervious to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.” Sources speculated that the goal might be to prevent information from leaking in real time from security cabinet meetings, thanks to the lack of cellphone reception on the premises.

YNET and Haaretz report that the European Union has called on Israel to conduct a “swift investigation” into circumstances surrounding events last week in Haifa in which Mossawa Advocacy Center Jafar Farah was allegedly injured after being arrested by police. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan responded that “Israel, as the only democracy in the Middle East, does not need moralistic warning calls from a biased and obsessive body like the EU… I suggest the EU not get involved in Israel’s internal matters”.

Maariv reports that the Knesset will debate recognising the Armenian Genocide.

Ha’aretz, Maariv and Yediot Ahronot report that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has asked Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to consult with him and receive instructions before addressing the matter of the appointment of the next police commissioner or extending the term of the current police commissioner. This is so that the Attorney General can examine aspects relating to a conflict of interest by Cabinet members who are under police investigation.