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Media Summary

Lieberman says that now is time to deliver a “strong blow” to Hamas

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Reuters and Business Insider via AP report that Israeli jets struck targets in the Gaza Strip early on Wednesday after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck a house in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva, the Israeli military said. Reuters reports that a medical official told Israel Radio that three people were taken to hospital after the rocket struck the house. Residents in the Gaza Strip said jets had targeted eight locations. The military said another rocket had been launched from Gaza, falling into the sea. Health ministry officials in Gaza said three people were wounded in an Israeli air strike against an armed training camp in Rafah, in the south of the coastal strip. There were no reports of serious injuries in Israel. Business Insider reports that the Magen David Adom rescue service said on Wednesday that the mother and three children in the home are being treated for shock symptoms. They took cover in their shelter during the attack. The rocket attack against Israel is the first in months and the first that hit an Israeli home since the 2014 summer war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers. It comes a day after Israel’s Defence Minister said the time had come to deliver a “heavy blow” to Hamas after weeks of escalation violence along the border. Hamas has held nearly weekly border protests for the past six months, aimed in part at easing a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

The Sun, Independent and The Telegraph report that the Jamal Khashoggi disappearance is yet to be solved. The Sun reports that Saudi Arabia had flatly denied any involvement in its arch-critic’s disappearance at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul a fortnight ago. But evidence suggests he was tortured to death, dismembered and smuggled out — supervised by autopsy specialist Salah Muhammad al-Tubaiqi. The Saudi official was seen in Istanbul while an agent with a bone-cutter tool was said to be part of a 15-strong kill team. Washington Post writer Khashoggi’s family is calling for an independent probe. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to the Saudi capital Riyadh for talks with King Salman and his son, 33-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, about the fate of the journalist. It comes as a high-level Turkish official said police searching the Saudi consulate found evidence that Khashoggi was killed there. Authorities also appeared ready to search the nearby residence of the consul general after the diplomat left the country. The Telegraph reports that Turkish investigators searching the Saudi Arabian consulate have found fresh coats of paint, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “Rogue killers” could be to blame for the disappearance of Khashoggi, President Donald Trump said after a telephone conversation with King Salman.

The FT, The Telegraph, Daily Mail and the BBC report on Trump’s recent statement that there has been too harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia. The FT reports that President Trump has accused critics of rushing to judgment over allegations that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the disappearance of Khashoggi. In an interview with the Associated Press, Trump compared the case to the way Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court justice accused of sexual assault, was treated. “We have to find out what happened first,” Trump said. “Here we go again with . . . you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.” The comments came hours after Trump said Crown Prince bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler, had denied knowing anything about the matter. The President told the AP that his comment about rogue killers came from a “feeling” after his conversation with the Saudi king who, along with his son, has strongly denied responsibility, and has pledged to complete a thorough investigation into the case. Trump’s criticism of those who blame Riyadh — a group that includes the Turkish government — fits a pattern for the US President. He frequently refuses to accept, without caveats, that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election. Critics have accused him of being too willing to accept denials from autocrats and non-democratic regimes. The Telegraph and the Daily Mail report that Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator and confidant of the US President, said he wanted to “sanction the hell out of Saudi Arabia” and pointed the finger at Crown Prince bin Salman – known by his initials ‘MBS’. “Nothing happens in Saudi Arabia without MBS knowing it,” Graham said, adding the Crown Prince was a “wrecking ball”. “He had [Mr Khashoggi] murdered in a consulate in Turkey and to expect me to ignore it – I feel used and abused,” he said. The BBC reports that Trump told the AP that Riyadh was being treated as “guilty until proven innocent”. Unnamed Turkish officials say a search of the Istanbul Saudi consulate gave more evidence that he was killed there. Saudi Arabia has denied killing him and initially said he left the building unharmed. However, the New York Times reports that four of the 15 people named by the Turkish authorities as suspects in Khashoggi’s disappearance have links to the Crown Prince, while another is a senior figure in the country’s Interior Ministry. Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has become the latest high-profile figure to withdraw from a major Saudi investment conference next week following Khashoggi’s disappearance.

The Sun and The Star report that Iran has threatened the US – “Our missiles can hit any ship”. The Islamic Republic insists the weapons are merely defensive but the announcement comes as tensions with the US mount over its nuclear programme mount. Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme earlier this year and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, saying the deal was flawed. Iran has threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if America tries to strangle Iranian oil exports. Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ air space division, said his country has spent a decade working on anti-ship missiles. “We have managed to make land-to-sea ballistic, not cruise, missiles that can hit any vessel or ship from 700 km (435 miles),” he said.

The Daily Mail reports that Russia and Turkey said Tuesday their deal to set up a buffer zone for the last major Syrian rebel bastion of Idlib was still on course, despite jihadists missing a deadline to withdraw.

This Israeli media is dominated by the missile attack on Beer Sheva. Kan radio news reports that a house in Beersheva suffered serious damage after being hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip. The owner of the home sustained a light injury to her head while running for shelter and her three children suffered from shock. The mother was taken to Soroka Hospital whilst her children were treated at home. A total of six people were taken to the hospital. Another rocket was fired and landed in the sea off the shore of the greater Tel Aviv area.

After a situation assessment held by Beersheva Mayor Rubik Danilovitz and the Home Front Command, the decision was made to cancel school today in the city. School will also be cancelled in the town of Omer. School in the Eshkol Regional Council will start at 10:00. Beersheva Mayor Rubik Danilovitz said that the reality in which the Negev residents live is intolerable and impossible. He said that Israel must not allow this to become the routine life of the residents of the south. He expressed hope that his city would return to normal activity by tomorrow.

Maariv reports on Defence Minister Aivgdor Lieberman’s comments after he toured the Gaza Division yesterday and met with troops. He said: “After meeting with the OC Southern Command, the division commander, brigade commanders, battalion commanders as well as with soldiers, it is my impression that everyone realises that the current situation cannot continue. We are not willing to accept the current level of violence, week after week.  The other side must also realise that we, the State of Israel, the security establishment, did everything possible, by peaceful means, to reach the situation of March 29, before the violence erupted,. By exerting pressure, by persuasion, by cooperating with the international community and with the UN agencies and anyone one who wanted to help resolve the problem. We’ve exhausted all the options, all the possibilities—now is the time to make decisions.”

Lieberman further said: “Now is the time to deliver a strong blow to Hamas. That is the only way to return the situation to what it was and lower the level of violence to zero or almost zero, or to the level of March 29. This must be by a security cabinet decision. Unfortunately, neither the defence minister nor the prime minister, nor the prime minister and defence minister together, can make such a decision on their own. This is a decision for the security cabinet. My position, at least, is clear, as I’ve said in all the security forums and in public. When I’m asked what has changed, why now, my answer is always is that there is a moment when you have to make decisions. As I see it, that moment was last Friday. After letting the UN bring in four tankers of fuel in the morning, there was an outburst of violence in the evening, a wave of violence that we hadn’t had for a long time.”  Israel Hayom also covers his comments but quotes another minister in the security cabinet that suggests “Lieberman is just talking to the voters”.

In an embarrassing incident yesterday for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he told Orna Peretz, who interrupted him at the inauguration of a medical facility in Kiryat Shmona, that she was boring. She interrupted him twice while he was eulogising his lawyer Jacob Weinroth who died yesterday morning. Yediot Ahronot and Maariv quote responses from various politicians, including Zionist Union Chairman Avi Gabbay who called Peretz and told her: “You certainly don’t bore me; we are listening to you. We listen to people everywhere I go about precisely these things.” Peretz responded on her part: “I am done with the Likud.” Likud MK Yoav Kisch said that “even a great and strong prime minister is allowed to be sharp with a demonstrator who interrupts his speech twice. You interrupted once during a painful eulogy for a friend that he lost and you interrupted a second time to cause a provocation. Enough”.

Commenting in Maariv Ben Caspit comments that more than the slip of the tongue, more worrying is that it was not followed by a true apology: “A functioning and effective Prime Minister’s Bureau would have realised in real time how he had messed up and would have launched a supertanker to put out the fire by issuing a real apology… yesterday, we saw a display of hubris. Netanyahu is no longer afraid of anyone or anything. His majesty is immortal. As Donald Trump said at the time, ‘I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters’; it’s the same with Netanyahu. He has gotten used to neglecting the weakest parts of society, discounting them, and ignoring them, but his friends will show up to vote for him at the moment of truth because ‘the Arabs are at the gates.’”

Maariv and Israel Hayom prominently eulogise Jacob Weinroth, chief lawyer for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who died of cancer yesterday aged 71. Israel Hayom describes him as a “Torah giant, a great man, a kind man”.  Maariv notes Weinroth “loved truth and justice”. Weinroth was the lead figure defending the Prime Minister in the cases of alleged corruption. As his health deteriorated, Netanyahu tried to convince the lawyer to spend more time with his family and less time on the cases. He recalled that Weinroth objected in his usual fiery manner and stayed involved until the end, always projecting optimism about the future.

Haaretz and Maariv cover a complaint by Meretz against the Jewish Home for a “racist, hate-spreading campaign” in the local elections in the mixed Jewish and Arab city of Ramle. The Jewish Home campaign billboards appear with warning against mixed marriages between Arabs and Jews. The billboards show a woman wearing a hijab with Sabbath candles and Kiddush wine behind her. The caption says: “There are hundreds of cases of assimilation in Ramle, and nobody cares. Tomorrow it could be your daughter.” Under the picture appears the Jewish Home’s campaign slogan: “Only a strong Jewish Home will keep Ramle Jewish.”

Meretz Chairperson Tamar Zandberg is quoted saying: “The Jewish Home’s disgraceful campaign in Ramle escalates the spread of racism and hatred. It appears that in the right wing, the battle over who can be more extremist and racist will not stop anytime soon. That’s why we asked the election committee to put an end this madness and to order the campaign stopped.”  The Jewish Home issued a statement: “The Jewish Home does not accept negative campaigns against other populations and sectors. This campaign did not have the party’s consent and it does not represent its position. We believe in bringing together all parts of Israeli society, and not increasing the rifts and the polarisation.”