The BBC reports that Israeli investment in the UK has been growing since a UK government scheme called the UK Israel Tech Hub was launched in 2011. The hub aims to boost business links between the two countries, by acting as a one-stop shop to bring British and Israeli companies together. It helps British firms find Israeli technology that could help them, and it assists Israeli technology businesses in selling their products and services in the UK. The scheme also introduces investors to start-ups, can help support visa applications, and indirectly points Israeli companies in the direction of the legal and other professional services they will need as they grow in the UK.

The Daily Mail reports that Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said that if Iran chooses to continue pursuing a nuclear program it will face a “military” answer. It is reported that Katz was  responding to the Iranian nuclear chief’s warning that the Islamic Republic’s program stands ready to build advanced centrifuges and further enrich uranium. Katz says if Iran presses forth it will face a “direct threat from the United States and its allies.”

Reuters reports that Israeli forces have dismantled huts near Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village. Witnesses reported that Israeli forces arrived at the village before sunrise on Thursday and began taking down the newly built protest huts, without touching the Bedouin encampment. Israel’s military liaison agency with the Palestinians, COGAT, said on Twitter that five “movable structures that were illegally transported & installed” in the area had been taken down. The five new huts had been assembled this week by activists from several rights groups and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in support of the Bedouin community.

The Daily Mail reports that Israel has reopened the only people crossing with Gaza on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Israeli defence ministry unit that oversees the Erez crossing confirmed it had reopened on Thursday. The reopening follows several days of relative calm, as Egyptian and UN officials attempt to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas.

The Express reports that Iran has warned the US that it is ready to enrich uranium ten times faster than ever before. Head of the Iranian nuclear programme, Ali Akbar Salehi  said that should the country decide to relaunch its nuclear programme it could enrich uranium up to ten times faster than its previous rate. Mr Salehi warned: “If we have to go back and withdraw from the nuclear deal, we certainly do not go back to where we were before.

The Daily Mail reports that PM Netanyahu has accused Europe of ‘appeasing’ and “reconciling” with Iran. During a cabinet meeting Netanyahu said that, “The time has come for the world to unite in the fight against terrorist organisations. It is doing so to a certain extent against the Islamic State group, but it is not doing so against Iran.”

In The Times, David Pannick QC, comments on Israel’s Nation-State Law and threats made by Israel’s Supreme Court to overturn the Bill. Pannick writes that Israeli justice minister Ayelet Shaked has threatened “war” against the judiciary unless it follows the government line.” Pannick writes that “the nation-state law should therefore be interpreted, consistently with the principles of dignity and democracy, as not undermining the entitlement of all citizens of Israel, Jewish or otherwise, to equal rights.”

In the Israeli media, the top story in Yediot Ahronot is a precedent-setting ruling by the Jerusalem District Court that might effectively strip the Chief Rabbinate of its monopoly over Jewish conversions in Israel. The court ruled that Y, who converted to Judaism through an Orthodox non-profit organisation, should be recognised by the state as Jewish and be registered as such in the Population Registry. Y is quoted as saying, “The Chief Rabbinate is making a mistake in the way it treats the hundreds of thousands of immigrants without religious status, people who serve in the army and pay taxes but who can’t do the most basic thing of marrying the person they love.”

Maariv’s top story notes the latest clash between the government and the high court of justice.  According to the paper, government officials are “outraged“ by the resignation of two members of the advisory committee for the appointment of senior personnel to the Civil Service, CPA Iris Stark and former National Security Council director Brig. Gen. (res.) Jacob Nagel, after the High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction against convening the committee. A petition was submitted by the Movement for Integrity, which claimed that the two had a conflict of interest because of their association with the prime minister and other ministers.   Channel 2 news reported that the prime minister and several ministers criticised the High Court of Justice at the cabinet meeting yesterday. Netanyahu ridiculed: “What is ‘political affiliation’ anyway? Perhaps they mean ‘ideological affiliation?’” Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Galant attacked Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who defended the appointments in the High Court of Justice, and said: “When the attorney general wants his deputy to serve for seven years, he knows how to get that done. The government was elected to govern. The job of government officials is to carry out orders, not to give orders.”  The petition against Nagel’s appointment noted that he had a conflict of interest due to how closely he had worked with the prime minister in the last few years as National Security Council director, and that he served as Netanyahu’s advisor over the last year on various issues since his resignation.

Following the US decision to close the PLO office in Washington, this morning Kan radio news reports that the Palestinian Authority is examining the possibility of establishing a consulate inside one of the Arab states’ embassies or at the Arab League’s offices in the US capital.  A government official in Ramallah confirmed that talks were being held with Arab representatives on this matter in order to continue providing consular services to between 150,000 to 200,000 Palestinians living in the United States.

Both Maariv and Haaretz cover different aspects of Bob Woodward’s new book on President Trump.  Maariv highlights the strengthening of Hezbollah, to the extent that Israel is militarily vulnerable and would be unable to defend itself against an onslaught of missiles.  Haaretz focuses on the claim that it was Jared Kushner who led the efforts to encourage an alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia, sometimes against the advice of other senior officials in the White House.

Israel Hayom marks the 25^th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, referring to “a quarter of a century of naiveté”.  The paper claims, “Twenty-five years after the signing of the agreement, the left refuses to recognise reality and prefers to spin theories that blame Israel”.

Channel 2 news continues to speculate over the former IDF Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz, entering politics later this year, when his three year cooling off period comes to an end.  Having been linked with joining the Labour party or Yesh Atid the latest report suggests he may form his own new party.