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Media Summary

Nikki Haley says Iran supplied Houthi rebels with ballistic missiles

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The Independent and Mail Online report that Israeli undercover officers have been recorded “attacking” and arresting Palestinians who threw stones at a West Bank protest.

BBC News Online, the Telegraph, and the Times report that Israel has carried out a fresh air strike in the Gaza strip on what it said were military facilities belonging to the Islamist group Hamas.

BBC News Online and the Mail Online both report that Israeli drug maker Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries has announced a restructuring plan that will see it cut 14,000 jobs worldwide, or 25 per cent of its total workforce.

BBC News Online and the Guardian report that US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has accused Iran of supplying Yemen’s rebel Houthi movement with missiles to attack Saudi Arabia. Haley showed reporter the remnants of a ballistic missile saying that it “might as well have had ‘Made in Iran’ stickers” on it.

The Guardian reports that UN-sponsored talks in Geneva designed to end the Syrian civil war have collapsed, with a deflated special envoy Staffan de Mistura admitting “a golden big opportunity” had been missed.

BBC News Online reports that Iraq has hanged 38 jihadist militants convicted of terrorism offences in a mass execution.

Rev. Giles Fraser writes in the Guardian that the current status of Jerusalem and its place in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be fully understood without understanding the religious history of the city and it’s unique importance to Jews, Muslims and Christians.

BBC News Online reports that a US women from New York has been accused of using bitcoin to move money to ISIS.

The Times reports that Russia is to resume flights to Egypt two years after they were suspended in 2015 after Islamic State blew up a Russian passenger jet, killing 224 people on board.

The Guardian reports that the high court has ruled that British troops breached the Geneva conventions and subjected Iraqi civilians to cruel and inhuman treatment by hooding them and taking turns to run over their backs in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.

The Telegraph reports that Israel has closed it’s borders with the Gaza strip in response to days of Palestinian rocket attacks emanating from the region.

The FT reports that Saudi Arabia has unveiled a $19bn stimulus package for the private sector.

The Telegraph reports that nearly a third of all weapons used by ISIS were manufactured in the European Union.

Yedioth Ahronoth, Haaretz, Maariv and Israel Hayom all lead with the Teva announcement that 1,700 workers in Israel will be made redundant with five plants to be sold or closed. Yesterday, Teva announced that it would  reduce its global workforce by 14,000. The company’s leadership believe that the streamlining plan will save the company $3bn in the next two years.

Kan Radio News reported this morning that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Kahlon said that they would meet next week with Teva CEO Schultz and would attempt to reduce the extent of the redundancies in Israel. Netanyahu said that he would take action to prevent the plant in Jerusalem from being closed, and Kahlon said that he expected a company that had been an Israeli symbol of international success for decades to work with a vengeance to minimise the blow to employees in Israel, the company’s home base.

The media also widely report on the decision by the Supreme Court of Justice that ordered the state to return the bodies of the terrorists that are being held as bargaining chips for the return of the bodies of IDF soldiers and the two civilian captives, or to enact a law that would permit keeping them. Israel Hayom’s front page features a quote from an unnamed official who says “relinquishing bodies of terrorists is a tailwind for terrorism”. Maariv quotes Netanyahu who called it “highly problematic. Hamas must not receive gifts for free. I will convene the security Cabinet ministers and the Attorney General for a special meeting to find practical and legal solutions to keep up the pressure on Hamas,” he said. The Goldin family – whose son’s body is being held by Hamas – issued a statement saying that the decision “would only step up the pressure on the Prime Minister and the security cabinet ministers to get off their chairs, roll up their sleeves and get to work on bringing Hadar and Oron back to Israel.” Kan Radio News reports comments by Justice Minister Aliyat Shaked who plans to distribute a legal memorandum to amend the counterterrorism act to make it possible to hold onto bodies for the purpose of negotiating.

Haaretz reports comments from the White House that a Trump Peace Initiative is not stuck because of the President’s declaration on Jerusalem but admit there might be a cooling off period.

Maariv and Haaretz report that Netanyahu is scheduled to be questioned today for the seventh time about Case 1,000 (the gifts affair) and Case 2,000 (conversations with the publisher of Yedioth Ahronot). Maariv argues that at least in the gifts affair the detectives believe that an evidentiary foundation has been established against him.

Kan Radio News reports that the Israeli film Foxtrot has been shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Yediot Ahronot reports that concrete progress has been made in the state’s witness talks with Moshe Yosef, an associate of Coalition Chairman MK David Bitan who is being investigated for corruption.