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Media Summary

Israeli and British newspapers pay tribute to Shimon Peres

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The online editions of the Guardian, Telegraph and Financial Times report the breaking news this morning that Israel’s former President and elder statesman Shimon Peres passed away overnight aged 93. Peres suffered a massive stroke two weeks ago and there was a dramatic deterioration in his condition yesterday. All of the online reports cover initial tributes from across the world, including from US President Barack Obama who called Peres one of the “few people… who change the course of human history”. The Times includes a report from late last night that Peres was fighting for his life.

City AM reports that the Israeli crowdfunding start-up OurCrowd plans to open an office in London next year and will begin to look for British investors. Chief Executive John Medved is quoted calling it a “no brainer” to establish a presence in London.

The Guardian online says that in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad’s troops have launched a large-scale ground attack on opposition-held areas in Aleppo.

The Financial Times reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei has advised former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to run for re-election. Although he had made no official announcement, it had been rumoured that Ahmadinejad was planning a comeback campaign. Khamenei said that Ahmadinejad’s candidacy would “polarise the country and will be detrimental for the country”.

The Israeli media is wholly dominated by the passing of Shimon Peres. His death is the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom, which devotes most of this morning’s edition to Peres’s life and death. Maariv’s headline simply refers to Peres’s “last battle,” while Yediot Ahronot opts for his “last goodbye”.

Commenting in Maariv, Ben Caspit writes a piece titled, “Without him, who will look after us?” Caspit says: “It is hard to imagine Israel without Shimon Peres.  The person who was there from the first moment, and was there all the way through.  The person who was relevant, even when he was irrelevant.  A last relic of the generation of founders and dreamers, a generation that spoke little and did a lot, which turned a distant dream into reality.”

The Walla news site includes tributes from the nation’s leaders, including Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who said: “The State of Israel is parting today from the head of its family.”

Meanwhile, Israel Radio news says that President Reuven Rivlin will cut short an official visit to Ukraine and return to Israel this afternoon, following Peres’s passing.

Israel Radio news also reports that the cabinet will hold a special meeting this morning and arrangements will be made for Peres’s funeral, which is expected to take place in Jerusalem on Friday. Yediot Ahronot says that dozens of world leaders are expected to attend Peres’s funeral, including US President Barack Obama.

In other news, Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom both report that the Supreme Court will rule this morning on an appeal by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over several convictions against him, including one of breach of trust in what is known as the “Talansky Affair”. Olmert is already serving a 19-month prison sentence for bribery in the “Holyland Affair,” and could face a further eight months imprisonment should his appeal be turned down.