fbpx

Media Summary

Netanyahu and Gantz hold unity government talks 

[ssba]

BBC News, the Guardian and Reuters report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, have taken “a significant step” towards forming a unity government, according to President Reuven Rivlin. No details of the talks have been made public. But a joint statement said chief negotiators for the two main parties would meet on Tuesday. According to the Guardian, Netanyahu has come out narrowly ahead of Gantz during consultations with Israeli parliamentarians on who should lead the next government. The Daily Mail reports that President Rivlin has warned Netanyahu and Gantz they must be ready to ‘pay a personal price’ as coalition talks got underway.

The Times, Guardian, Independent and Reuters report that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged President Donald Trump to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, saying the US leader was the “one guy” who could negotiate a new pact. Johnson told reporters en route to the UN general assembly in New York: “The difficulty is how to organise a global response and we will be working with our American and European friends to construct a response that tries to de-escalate tensions in the Gulf.” President Trump has responded positively to Johnson’s intervention, saying that he was not surprised he had floated the idea. “He does want a new deal because the other deal was ready to expire – very short number of years left,” Trump said.

BBC News, the Financial Times and Reuters report that Iran has rejected a joint statement by the leaders of France, Germany and the UK who blamed it for attacks earlier this month on Saudi oil installations. Iran’s foreign minister accused them of “parroting absurd US claims”. The European leaders said there was no other plausible explanation for the attacks, which shut down half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production. But they said they remained committed to the JCPOA on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia has restored more than 75% of crude output lost after attacks on its facilities and will return to full volumes by early next week, a source briefed on the latest developments told Reuters on Monday.

Reuters reports that President Trump is expected to make his case for keeping pressure on Iran on Tuesday at a UN General Assembly speech.

The Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Financial Times and Reuters report that the UK-flagged Stena Impero has been released, according to Iranian officials. “The legal process has finished and based on that the conditions for letting the oil tanker go free have been fulfilled and the oil tanker can move,” Ali Rabiei, Iran’s government spokesman, said on Monday, according to the official IRNA news agency. The tanker’s Swedish owners are yet to confirm the vessel has been freed from the port city of Bandar Abbas, but had said on Sunday its release was imminent.

Reuters reports that French President Emmanuel Macron said he would meet President Hassan Rouhani on Monday and President Donald Trump on Tuesday as he seeks to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran. “France is trying to put together proposals to avoid an escalation,” Macron told reporters at the UN General Assembly.

BBC News reports that Prime Minister Johnson is to call for the release of jailed British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe when he meets President Hassan Rouhani. The prime minister will meet Rouhani at a UN summit in New York, hours after blaming Iran for attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Johnson said there was a “very high degree of probability” Iran was behind the drone and missile attacks on two oil facilities, which Tehran denies. The Telegraph reports that Iran has claimed that the UK offered to release £400m from a decades-old deal in return for Iran freeing Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The Guardian and Reuters report that Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has been heavily censured by two dozen largely western countries. Leading the criticism were 15 EU members, including the UK and Germany. The joint statement, which was read out at a meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, represents the second time in six months that the body has criticised the kingdom, following a similar statement in March.

BBC News and Reuters report that almost 500 people have been detained in Egypt in the past few days after protests against alleged government corruption, human rights activists say. Demonstrations were reported in Cairo, Alexandria and several other cities on Friday night, and in the port city of Suez on Saturday evening. The authorities have not yet released an official number of arrests.

Reuters reports that Syria said on Monday the work of any new constitutional committee should be free of foreign intervention, suggesting Damascus remains insistent that a long-awaited step in a stalled peace process should respect its sovereignty.

The Jewish Chronicle reports that thousands of Labour party members were handed a pamphlet comparing Israel to Nazi Germany ahead of a debate on Palestine at conference. An article on the front page of the booklet by Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Party official Moshe Machover stated it was a “well established fact” that “Israel is a racist state.” The same piece – which calls for the “de-Zionisation of Israel” – then makes a clear attempt to link Israel with Nazism by selectively quoting from academic sources.

In the Independent, BDS founder Omar Barghouti claims that he was “stopped from speaking out against Israel’s crimes – Britain’s complicity in Palestinian repression must end”. Barghouti was not issued a visa to attend Labour party conference.

In the Telegraph, Mark Almond claims that the US ‘Cold War’ with China could spark an ‘Archduke Franz Ferdinand moment’ in Iran:” As the Gulf turns eastwards, is the world inching towards an accidental war?”.

Netanyahu and Gantz meet with President Rivlin for unity talks: All the Israeli media report that Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz met last night at the President’s residence for initial talks to form a national unity government between their two parties, Likud and Blue and White respectively. The meeting lasted roughly two hours, with Netanyahu and Gantz speaking alone for approximately thirty minutes. At the conclusion of the meeting both parties issued similar statements thanking the president and indicating that their negotiating teams would meet today and the two leaders again on Wednesday. President Rivlin said “we have taken a significant step.’” However, Likud publicly stated that it would not abandon its right-wing and ultra-Orthodox allies, while Blue and White said it had “no intention of relinquishing our lead, our principles or our natural partners.” The major stumbling block is thought to be not the principle of a national unity government but rather who of the two men – Netanyahu or Gantz – will serve as prime minister first in any rotation arrangement. As Yediot Ahronot’s Nahum Barnea wrote, “the unity government negotiations that were begun yesterday looked like a dance lesson, in which one party danced two steps forward and half a step back, while the other party stood still.”

Gantz also met with Liberman, US envoys: Benny Gantz also met separately with Yisrael Beitenu leader Avidgdor Liberman and, prior to that, US ambassador David Friedman and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, Israeli media reported. The meeting between Gantz and Liberman was their first since last week’s election, they said they may speak again soon. Yisrael Beitenu’s eight Knesset seats remain the key swing vote in any future coalition government. Liberman has not yet met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Earlier in the day, Gantz met with the two US officials for the first time. Blue and White said it was a “cordial discussion on various topics, including the importance of US-Israel relationship, security challenges with the region and efforts to promote peace.” The Trump administration is widely perceived to have favoured Netanyahu (over Gantz) in the elections.

Netanyahu’s lawyers prepare for pre-trial hearing: Haaretz reported yesterday that lawyers for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a one-page letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit ahead of a pre-trial hearing next week, claiming their client was innocent of all corruption charges leveled against him. Yet the response was extremely short and contained no explanation for the innocent plea nor substantive responses to the evidence prosecutors have against the prime minister. The written response is part of the process and was expected prior to the hearing next week (October 2 and 3). Mandelblit will then need to decide whether to officially indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Man shot dead in Akko: A 22-year old Arab-Israeli man was shot dead overnight in the northern city of Akko, Kan Radio reported. The murder, thought to be criminally related, was the sixty-eighth murder of an Arab-Israeli citizen since the start of 2019. Crime, including murder, is believed to be the top priority for Arab-Israelis, with many activists and citizens demanding more action by the government and Police to tackle the problem.