BBC News Online,  the Telegraph, the Times and the Daily Mail report on US President Donald Trump’s interview with Israel Hayom. Trump said he was sceptical about the chances of his administration’s peace plan for the Middle East. He said that the Palestinians “are not interested in making peace” and that he was not sure the ­Israelis are either. He also said that recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was the “high point” of his first year in office, that Israeli settlements “complicate” the peace process with Palestinians and urged “care” over the issue.

The Times published an article by Richard Kemp which argues that a failure to support Israel against Iran could end in war. He criticises Iran and the EU for not heeding Israel’s warnings and “appeasing” Iran.

The Times, Daily Mail, the Independent and the Financial Times report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to continue bombing Syria yesterday despite the loss of a fighter-bomber shot down as it returned from a mission. Netanyahu said that Israel would “continue to harm anyone who tries to harm us” after it became the latest foreign power to lose an aircraft in Syria’s escalating, internationalised war. The Daily Express reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Netanyahu to “avoid any steps that could lead to a new round of confrontation dangerous to everyone in the region,” according to the Kremlin. At a press conference on Saturday evening, Netanyahu said: “I reiterated to Mr Putin our right and our duty to defend ourselves against aggression against us from Syrian territory. We agreed the security coordination between our armies will continue.”

Metro and the Daily Mail via PA report that Israel Katz, Israeli Minister of Intelligence, warned that its brutal airstrikes in Syria were a clear message that it wouldn’t tolerate an Iranian military foothold on its doorstep. He said it will take Iran time to “digest, understand and ask how Israel knew how to hit those sites”. After shooting down an Iranian drone that infiltrated its airspace, Israel launched a widespread offensive in Syria on Saturday. The military said it hit four Iranian positions and eight Syrian sites, causing significant damage.

The Daily Mail via AP reports on the upcoming trial of Ahed Tamimi. The trial is set to begin in a military court on Tuesday after she was charged for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers. The Times reports that Jim FitzPatrick, the Irish artist, has painted an image in support of Tamimi. FitzPatrick, who is renowned for creating the iconic 1968 print of Che Guevara, has drawn the image of Tamimi, entitled “There is a Real Wonder Woman,” depicting her as the heroine of DC Comics most recently portrayed in films by Gal Gadot, a former Israeli soldier.

BBC News Online reports that Egypt says it has killed 16 Islamist militants in an operation in Sinai in the north-east of the country. Dozens of targets including weapons dumps, motorbikes and cars were also destroyed, a statement from the military says. Four militants and 30 suspects were arrested, it adds. The Sinai peninsula, where Egypt’s most active militants are based, borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. Last week the New York Times reported that unmarked Israeli aircraft were carrying out covert strikes in Egypt with the Egyptian president’s approval. Egypt denied this, and Israel declined to comment.

The Daily Star Online reports that Tehran has been accused of “warmongering and belligerence” which is helping to fuel the growing crisis in the Middle East. Iran’s aggression has become a focus of the mass protests across the country, with Tehran on the verge of direct confrontation with Israel and Saudi Arabia. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) told Daily Star Online the international community must back the protesters in their bid to overthrow the regime, or risk Tehran triggering another major war in the Middle East.

All the Israeli media focus on the first direct clash between Israel and Iran over the weekend. Yediot Ahronot includes the accounts of the pilots who are recovering in hospital, who told reporters: “We realised we had to eject quickly, the power of the explosion could have killed us.”  The paper also reveals that a second Israeli air-force jet was also “locked” by the Syrians but succeeded in evading their fire. Maariv, Israel Hayom and Haaretz share the assessment in Israel that another incident with Iran is only a matter of time. They quote an Israeli official saying that the next time Iran tries to violate Israeli sovereignty, the response would be much more powerful. Maariv also quotes the head of the Northern Command Maj. Gen. Yoel Strik, who said: “We will neither endanger the citizens of Israel nor lend a hand to an Iranian attempt to destabilise the entire region. We do not want an escalation, but [our] ability is excellent and we will not hesitate to use it. That is what we’ve done in the past, that is what we did on Friday and that is what we will continue to do whenever we need to.”  Yediot Ahronot includes a breakdown of the various sites that were attacked deep inside Syria.  Haaretz recognises a rare Syrian success in taking down an Israeli F-16 fighter plane, suggesting they took advantage of the vulnerability of the jet flying at high altitude.  However, the paper also notes the impressive Israel success in destroying nearly half of Syria’s air defences.  Israel Hayom suggests there was a fault in operating the jet’s defence system, which is supposed to handle anti-aircraft missiles with relative ease.   

In the commentary, Israel Hayom discusses the varying conclusion that all the parties that were involved will have to do, factoring in their own profit-loss ratio from this past weekend into their calculations about future actions. “Iran can also be only partially pleased. Iran’s claim that it ambushed Israel strategically by paying with a cheap drone in exchange for an expensive fighter jet has no basis in reality. The Iranians could not have known how the battle would end and they paid a price that was higher than what they are willing to admit—not only was the drone’s control cabin destroyed, but several other sites of interest to them in Syria were attacked and destroyed.” Maariv includes an assessment from the UN in New York quoting a Western diplomat, who said: “Russia wants to oust Bashar Assad from power, but is deliberating how to do so. Russia needs Iran to help it maintain stability in Syria after Assad’s ouster… That’s what’s important to Russia now. Israel’s problems and concerns as a result of the increased Iranian presence in Syria rank very low on Putin’s agenda.”  The paper adds: “The prevailing assessment held by diplomats in New York is that in the event of a conflict between Iran and Israel, Russia will side with Iran.”

Israel Radio reports on Israeli Minister Yisrael Katz’s interview with Saudi Arabian website Elaph, where he warned Iran that if it continued to threaten Israel and to attack it from Syrian territory, Israel would teach it a lesson that it would not forget. He argued Iran had crossed a red line and was playing with fire. He said that the Syrian army would also be hit if it continued cooperating with Iran. He called on all parties in the region and on the international community to block the military presence in Syria and to put an end to the aid that it has been giving Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In the backdrop to the investigations into Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Channel Two News reports Attorney General Mandelblit has asked the police to delay making their recommendations public.  They also reveal Walter Soriano as the European allegedly hired to conduct surveillance of police detectives. Netanyahu said that the media had reported delusional hints that he had hired someone they claimed to be his associate and stressed that he had not met or spoken with Soriano for eight years.  Soriano also emphatically rejected the claims and his attorney said that the claims were fabricated and false.

In yesterday’s Israel Hayom the editor Boaz Bismuth did an exclusive interview with US President Donald Trump.  He asked the President what the high point of his presidency had been so far, to which Trump said: “I think Jerusalem was a very big point. And I think it was a very important point. The capital, having Jerusalem be your great capital was a very important thing to a lot of people. I have been thanked and in some cases not thanked, to be 100 per cent honest about it. But it was a very important pledge that I made and I fulfilled my pledge.”  He added that “by taking Jerusalem off the table I wanted to make it clear that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and as for specific boundaries, I would support what both sides agreed to. I think both sides will have to make hard compromises to reach a peace agreement. We are going to see what goes on. Right now, I would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace, they are not looking to make peace. And I am not necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace.  We will be talking about settlements. The settlements are something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements.”