The Times, the Telegraph and the Independent report on the emerging diplomatic row between Israel and Paraguay after the latter’s decision to relocate its embassy back to Tel Aviv. The Times says Paraguay’s decision appears to have been the result of lobbying by a Palestinian delegation that attended the newly installed president’s inauguration and has since held secret meetings. In response Israel closed its embassy in Paraguay and recalled its ambassador.

The Independent leads on the London Assembly’s denunciation of illegal posters put up in London bus shelters which read “Israel is a racist endeavour”. On Wednesday, bus stops in at least four different sites across the capital were spotted featuring the posters, apparently in protest at Labour’s decision to adopt the internationally recognised examples of antisemitism. The Assembly passed a motion yesterday condemning the posters and thanking London Mayor Sadiq Khan for his “swift criticism of this vandalism”. It also urged Transport for London and the police to “ensure that those responsible are identified, found and brought to justice”. Gareth Bacon, an assembly member who proposed the motion said: “Yesterday we saw a concerted effort by racist, antisemitic and politically motivated people to intimidate London’s Jewish communities.”

The FT report that Israel and Hamas are seeking a long-term truce in indirect negotiations, according to Palestinian officials and western diplomats. Two western diplomats told the paper that the indirect talks could also lead to an agreement that would see the Rafah border crossing into Egypt opened more frequently and the creation of a sea route for goods from Gaza to an island off the coast of northern Cyprus.

The Telegraph report that Labour MP Joan Ryan lost a vote of no confidence in her constituency by 94-92 votes. The paper says that Ryan, the MP for Enfield North who chairs Labour Friends of Israel, was targeted for deselection by members of her local party, who claimed she had “smeared” Jeremy Corbyn’s character and “fuelled” the antisemitism crisis. Ryan said she would not resign and blamed her defeat on “Trots, Stalinists, Communists”. The vote carries no official force, but it raises the prospect of a trigger ballot before the next election in which activists would be able to vote for a full selection process to pick a new candidate.

The Guardian and the BBC report that three protesters were shot dead by security forces as demonstrators set fire to a provincial government building in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Local authorities imposed a curfew to try and quell protesters, who are demonstrating against poor public services and unemployment. Twelve civilians have been killed since the start of the month in confrontations between demonstrators and police, according to Iraq’s Independent High Commission for Human Rights, which said another 93 civilians and 18 security force personnel have been injured.

The Economist reports on US President Donald Trump’s plan to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The paper says that Trump is making one-sided moves designed to preclude negotiations. His decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as well as halt all funding to the Palestinians and UNRWA, is not a realistic approach and all it has done is convince the Palestinians that he is not an honest broker.

The Times’ Richard Spencer writes an in-depth piece on the “final battle” between regime and rebel forces in Idlib, home to millions of civilians likely to be caught in the crossfire. He writes that no one has taken any notice of Staffan de Mistura’s [UN special envoy for Syria] plea for peace. Idlib is home to an estimated 10,000 fighters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a UN-designated terrorist group. Turkey recently failed to get the group to disband and place itself under the orders of more moderate Turkish-aligned groups, in the hope of avoiding an assault from Russian and regime forces. Instead, Spencer writes: “Russia and, possibly, all the other outside players are secretly hoping that the fear of war will force rebels into compromise deals, the sort of deals that in July brought a swift end to fighting in Deraa, once thought of as the cradle of the revolution.”

The Guardian via Reuters and the BBC report on comments from the new US representative for Syria, Jim Jeffrey, who said that there is “lots of evidence” chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib. Jeffrey described the situation in Idlib as “very dangerous” and said Turkey, which has backed some rebel groups in the region, was trying to avoid an all-out Syrian government offensive. Turkey is concerned that the offensive by Russian and Syrian forces, and the use of chemical weapons, would force huge refugee flows into south-eastern Turkey or areas in Syria under Turkish control. The Telegraph say that families in Idlib have already begun fleeing from frontline villages and fashioning homemade gas masks in anticipation of an assault by Syrian regime forces as early as this weekend.

The Economist reports on the new high-speed rail link between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, scheduled to start running on 24^th September, exactly 126 years since the first train arrived in Jerusalem from the Mediterranean coast. The paper says Israel’s transport ministry is not sure it will be ready in time, with the inauguration of the line having been postponed twice before. The cost of the new railway line is estimated to be US$2bn, and will replace the current line that has remained unchanged since it was built by the Ottoman empire in 1892.

In the Israeli media, both Israel Hayom and Haaretz report on President Trump’s comments on a conference call with US Jewish community leaders and Rabbis ahead of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.  He told them the US government has stopped giving financial aid to the Palestinians and said: “I told them, we’re not paying you until we make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we’re not paying.”  He also reiterated that his team has made “great progress” on the peace plan during the past year.   Trump also said that he expects Iran’s leaders to return to negotiations on a new nuclear deal with the United States, as a result of the renewal of sanctions.

Yediot Ahronot’s top story is an interview with Lior Lotan, until recently the prime minister’s coordinator for prisoners and missing persons.  He expresses frustration that Israel continues to “repeat mistakes and plays into Hamas hands”. Haaretz reports the press conference that marked the launch of an international campaign by the families of the two Israeli civilians missing in Gaza, Hisham al-Sayed and Avraham (Abera) Mengistu. They responded to the IDF assessment that the two men are alive and  being held by Hamas.  Ilan Mengistu, brother of Abera, who entered Gaza four years ago, is quoted, “The reports in the last few days [that the two are alive, according to military sources] give us hope. The presumption is that Abera is alive. The military observers have evidence of this and fortunately there is no other information that contradicts this, but unfortunately we have no real sign of life right now,” Al-Sayed’s father said that his son had entered Gaza twice prior to this and was released by Hamas both times. “Hamas has changed, it’s not the same as it was before. Before, they examined him and saw that he wasn’t healthy and let him go. We call on Hamas to do this again.” Then he added in Arabic: “He is not a soldier and has nothing to do with the Israeli army.”

Israel Hayom reports a briefing with a high-ranking officer in the Northern Command about Hezbollah. The officer said, “Our intelligence will give us advance warning. Still, we’re preparing for the possibility that they’ll surprise us.”   Director of the Separation Barrier Administration Brig. Gen. Eran Ofir told reporters that he would like to build a wall along the entire length of the Lebanese border, but that that would cost NIS 1.7 billion.  So far 11 km of wall have been built along the 130-km-long border. A total of 13 km of wall are planned at the current stage.   The high-ranking Northern Command officer said: “It’s been famously said that the line of contact will always be breached. They might chalk up certain achievements, but far from what they’re planning. Instead of that happening, they won’t succeed in returning. We’ll surround the force and it won’t return.”

Kan radio news reports that Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez called on Israel to reconsider its decision to close its embassy in Asunción. He described the decision as an overreaction to Paraguay’s decision to relocate its embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. He said further that his administration would abide by international law and that UN resolutions considered Jerusalem territory that was disputed between Israel and the Palestinians.

Maariv reports on the High Court ruling that two members of the advisory committee to appoint the next police commissioner must be removed as they have close ties to the prime minister. As a result, the selection of the next IDF chief of staff and police commissioner is now expected to be delayed.   The decision came as a result of a petition by the Movement for Integrity submitted against the membership of Brig. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Nagel and Iris Stark on the advisory committee for the appointment of senior officials in the public service, the court criticised Nagel and Stark’s presence on the committee and expressed concern that Netanyahu was trying to influence the identity of the next police commissioner while he is a suspect in several police investigations.