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Media Summary

Netanyahu extends route to Australia to avoid Indonesian airspace

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The Financial Times online covers Arab media reports that Israel’s Air Force struck a Syrian army position overnight Wednesday, targeting Hezbollah-related weaponry or materials. There has been no Israeli comment on the reports.

The Guardian online and the Independent both report that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a circuitous route flying to Australia, where he is currently on a state visit. The lengthy plane journey was apparently to avoid entering Indonesian airspace, as Israel has no diplomatic ties with the country.

Writing in the Guardian online, Ian Lustick says that by expressing scepticism over the “merry-go-round” of the peace process during the last twenty odd years, and entertaining alternatives, President Trump “has for the first time in decades helped to move Israelis and Palestinians towards thinking creatively about the future”.

Also writing in the Guardian online, Nadia Hijab says that Palestinians should “hold on” to the green line demarcating the pre-1967 borders and work “for accountability” in maintaining its integrity. She suggests that this will “eventually bring an end to occupation… whether it be two states or one”.

In The Sun, Rod Liddle praises US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Nikki Haley, who this week said that the US will stand up for Israel in the face of UN bias against it. Liddle says that Haley was “just saying what most ordinary Brits have been saying for years,” that the UN is “a spectacular waste of money”.

The Financial Times covers comments made by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano, who said that the Iran nuclear deal is “more robust than many people think” although the verification system to uphold the agreement is imperfect.

The Guardian online reports that the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura has said that he will give the latest round of Syria peace talks starting today in Geneva “a serious try”.

The Times says that Jamal al-Harith, the  British Guntanamo Bay detainee who recently carried out an ISIS  suicide bomb attack in Iraq, had previously travelled to the Gaza Strip with George Galloway’s Viva Palestinian convoy in 2009.

In the Israeli media, the top item in Maariv, Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot is the appointment of four new justices to the Supreme Court. Three of the appointees are considered to be conservative judges, who do not favour an activist approach towards Knesset legislation. Yesterday’s appointments are widely considered to be a victory for Jewish Home’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked.

Yediot Ahronot calls the appointments a “conservative revolution”. In the same publication, Tova Tzimuki calls it “a significant step yesterday towards a change in culture, regime and values. A dramatic development… is going to set the Supreme Court on a new course: that will lead towards a more conservative and restrained court”.

Another major item in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and Yediot Ahronot is an ongoing police investigation into a deadly shooting and violence last month at the Bedouin community of Umm al-Hiran in the southern Negev region. A Bedouin man was shot dead by police, and a police officer killed, as demonstrators protested against home demolitions. Israeli officials, including Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan initially said that the Bedouin man was a terrorist who was carrying out a vehicle attack. However, Haaretz says that the investigation will likely show that it was not a terror attack, while Maariv reports that there is evidence of mistakes in police conduct.

Haaretz and YNet both cover Amnesty International’s annual report, which claims that Israel detains thousands of Palestinians without trial, with many tortured. The report also criticised the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for violations.

Israel Radio news reports that an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded last night, after explosives were thrown at him during an operation in the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank.