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Media Summary

Israeli police arrest Israeli-American teen suspected of being behind the US bomb threats

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The Times, Telegraph, Financial Times, Guardian, i and Independent report that Israeli police have arrested an Israeli-American male in his late teens on suspicion of perpetrating the recent bomb threats to Jewish community centres and schools in the US. The bomb scares caused widespread concern among American Jews and forced US President Donald Trump to make a statement on the issue. The suspect, who lives in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, is also thought to have been behind a threat which prompted a Delta aircraft to make an emergency landing. Many of the reports speculate that the suspect suffers from mental health issues.

The Independent reports that David Friedman has been confirmed as the new US Ambassador to Israel after US Senators voted “largely along party lines” for Friedman, who is described in the article as a “fervent supporter of Jewish settlements”.

The Guardian online says the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will visit Israel and Palestinian areas of the West Bank for 12 days in May. According to Lambeth Palace, he will affirm the Christian community’s presence and examine challenges to religious freedom in the region.

The Evening Standard notes that Tel Aviv’s City Hall was illuminated with the colours of the Union Jack on Wednesday night, as a sign of support following  the suspected terror attack in Westminster. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai is quoted expressing “solidarity with the city of London and my colleague Sadiq Khan”.

The i reports the arrival of nine Jewish converts from Venezuela as new immigrants to Israel. Their arrival was delayed over accusations that they had nominally converted in order to escape difficult conditions in Venezuela. The article says that the case “underscores the fierce debate in a divided Israeli society over who is a Jew”.

The business section of the Telegraph says that Israel’s Delek has offered £517m to acquire Ithica Energy. Delek already owns 19.7 per cent of Ithica, which reported a £54m loss in 2016.

In the Israeli media,Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom lead with the arrest of a young man from Ashkelon over bomb threats to Jewish community facilities in the US. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Nadav Eyal calls the episode “embarrassing and shameful,” and worries that “the classic antisemitic conspiracy theory will be given a tailwind — ‎the Jews portray themselves as victims but are orchestrating the supposed attacks, so as to continue to extort the non-Jews”.

The top story in Haaretz is the emerging additional details over conversations between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yediot Ahronot publisher Noni Mozes, which are at the heart of a criminal investigation over a supposed quid pro quo agreement between the two. In the latest reported revelation, Mozes is said to have boasted of articles weakening Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, considered a rival to Netanyahu.

Maariv and Israel Hayom prominently report on suspected anger within the Jewish Home party over an article by MK Betzalel Smotrich, which encouraged religious Zionist youth not to enlist for one round of IDF drafting in order to protest the enlistment of women in combat units. In response to the article Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett said: “The IDF is us, and we do not threaten ourselves. No group, certainly not religious Zionism, has the right to ‘‎teach the IDF’ ‎how to behave, and certainly not to refuse or to delay the draft.”

Maariv leads with a poll which places Yesh Atid as the most popular party, ahead of the Likud. It indicates that if elections were held today, Yesh Atid would win 28 Knesset seats to Likud’s 25. Although just 35 per cent of respondents said they were pleased with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s performance, he was still named as the person most suited to be Israel’s leader, ahead of Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid.