BICOM CEO James Sorene was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning to discuss the British Quakers decision to divest from firms profiting from business in West Bank settlements.

The Guardian reports that Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s peace plan a waste of time. Shaked said that the gap between the Israelis and Palestinians is “much too big to be bridged”. She continued, “Although I want peace more than anyone else, I think I am just more realistic, and I know that in the current future it is impossible. But let’s wait and see what they [the US] will offer.” Asked if she would tell the US president not to “waste his time with this,” she replied: “Definitely.”

The Guardian, the Telegraph, the BBC and the Times report on the conviction in the UAE of British PhD student, Matthew Hedges. The Guardian reports that the British academic who was accused of spying for the UK government in the UAE after travelling to Dubai to conduct research has been sentenced to life in jail. Matthew Hedges, aged 31, has been in a UAE prison for more than six months. The University of Durham PhD candidate went to the country to research his thesis and was sentenced at an Abu Dhabi court on Wednesday. At Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons on Wednesday, Theresa May said she was “deeply disappointed and concerned” about the case and would be raising it with the Emirati authorities. “The Foreign Office will remain in close contact with Matthew, his family and his lawyer,” she told MPs. “We will continue to do all we can to support them as they consider the next steps and we will continue to press this matter at the highest level with the Emiratis.” Writing for the Times, Richard Spencer reports that the wife of Hedges, branded an MI6 spy, rounded on the Foreign Office’s “appalling” handling of his case yesterday. Daniela Tejada spoke out after her husband was sentenced at the end of a five-minute hearing without a lawyer, a ruling that plunged Britain’s relations with the Gulf state into crisis. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, had hoped that it would be possible to secure his release. After raising his case personally with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto ruler of the UAE, he is thought to have received assurances that the student would be treated leniently. Instead Hedges was left “shaking” when he was given the life term minutes after arriving at the UAE Federal Appeals Court in Abu Dhabi, according to Tejada. Times journalist Lucy Fisher reports that a senior Tory in the Government said yesterday that Britain should threaten to withdraw its defence co-operation from the UAE to secure the release of the jailed student. MPs also said it was “highly ironic” in light of the espionage allegations against Hedges, that the crown prince of Abu Dhabi boasts a former MI6 officer among the senior advisers in his court. Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP and a former chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, told Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions that if Hedges “is not released, I don’t see why we should be committed to their defence”. The Telegraph reports that Jeremy Hunt will meet the wife of Matthew Hedges on Thursday amid calls for immediate action.

Reuters and the Financial Times report on Iran. The Financial Times reports that US sanctions on Iran are fuelling a domestic power struggle as Tehran’s top diplomat clashes with regime hardliners over his push to comply with global rules against money laundering. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, has come under attack from hard-line conservatives for saying that “money-laundering is a reality” and accusing people “with vested interests” of blocking compliance with global standards. Zarif’s opponents do not want him and the centrist President Hassan Rouhani to secure wins on the global stage that could be politically beneficial at home. A business executive close to hard-line forces, which hope to win more power in parliamentary and presidential polls in 2020 and 2021, described his comments as “suicidal”. Reuters reports that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Wednesday that US bases in Afghanistan, the UAE and Qatar, and US aircraft carriers in the Gulf were within range of Iranian missiles. “They are within our reach and we can hit them if they make a move,” Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ airspace division, was quoted as saying. Hajizadeh said the Guards had improved the precision of their missiles, and specifically said they could hit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Al Dhafra base in the UAE and Kandahar base in Afghanistan that host US forces.

The Financial Times, the Guardian and the BBC and the Times report on Saudi Arabia and the diplomatic aftermath of the death of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The Guardian reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s scheduled appearance at the G20 summit next week in Buenos Aires presents world leaders with a moment they would rather avoid. Being pictured with the

Crown prince in Argentina would be a political nightmare for most of the other leaders at the G20. “It is a significant moment,” said Bruce Riedel, a veteran CIA official and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “We have a crown prince for whom the Khashoggi thing is only one part of reckless and dangerous policies across the region, in Yemen and Lebanon and elsewhere.” Riedel added: “In Yemen, we are now looking at millions of people at risk. Are the leaders of the world community going to do anything about it?” The Financial Times reports that US lawmakers are pressing the White House into taking a harder line against Saudi Arabia after President Donald Trump said he would stand by the kingdom’s royal family following the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. House Democrats are preparing their own moves after senior Republican and Democratic senators ordered the White House to determine whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the murder. According to Democratic aides, whose party will take control of the House of Representatives next year, lawmakers are considering using their powers to push for tougher sanctions on Riyadh and to initiate new Khashoggi probes. The BBC reports that the Saudi Foreign Minister said calls to remove Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are a “red line,” amid a global outcry over the murder of Khashoggi. Adel al-Jubeir said the prince had not been involved in the 2 October killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The Times reports that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have hailed President Donald Trump as “courageous” for refusing to order further sanctions over the killing of Khashoggi or condemn the crown prince. Trump argued on Tuesday against “foolishly” punishing Riyadh further by arms embargoes, as has been proposed by a cross-party group of senators, amid reports that the CIA had concluded that the crown prince ordered the murder. A prominent UAE academic who occasionally advises the UAE government, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, previously known for his liberal positions, said: “President Trump has dealt a knockout to anyone who was trading on the Khashoggi case in America, Turkey and Qatar.” He added; “The majority of the Americans would probably support the president’s stand. He has proven to be very courageous to go against the Washington consensus on the Jamal Khashoggi case.”

Israel Hayom reports that Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyah and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar are locked in a power struggle that has divided Hamas and impeded its ability to operate. According to the report, Haniyah has accused Sinwar of undercutting his authority and public standing, and of preventing him from traveling overseas in pursuit of his duties. The report includes allegations that “hit squads” have been used to intimidate members of Hamas’s political bureau, who have overwhelmingly sided with Haniyah.

Army Radio reports that retired judge Elyakim Rubinstein has personally asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to change the Nation-State Law and a clause that talks about equality.

Yediot Ahronot publishes an interview with Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked who admits her party made a mistake with their threat to leave the coalition. Shaked says: “From our history with Netanyahu, we can see that unfortunately we succeed in achieving our goals only with such measures. Perhaps we shouldn’t have given him a public ultimatum. Maybe. It’s clear we’ve made mistakes, but we’re only learning from it. There are some political battles you lose.”

The Jerusalem Post reports from its diplomatic conference. Gideon Saar, thought to be a potential future leader of the Likud, said that “if an Israeli pre-emptive strike is not carried out in the near future, the window of opportunity for preventing Hezbollah’s precision strike capabilities will close … If Hezbollah will achieve precision strike capabilities, they will cause us very significant damage. This is a clear red line.”

Kan Radio News reports on a story by the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper that President Trump decided to postpone publication of his plan for Israeli-Palestinian talks until next February. The report said that the postponement was meant to benefit Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Maariv reports that the narrow coalition managed to survive a full day of votes in the Knesset yesterday after it mobilised everyone to the Knesset including MK Sharren Haskel (Likud) after she was hospitalised at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. Finance Minister and Kulanu Chairman Moshe Kahlon said yesterday that he believed that the narrow government would not last with a 61-MK majority coalition, but said that he would not be the one to cause its downfall. “I will not lift a hand in favor of early elections, but if Heaven forbid we lose in votes and break the framework of the budget, then there is no reason for this government to exist and I will insist on that. It is impossible to function when we can’t pass bills and move the economy forward. Things can’t work that way. I spoke this week with the prime minister and explained the problem to him. If it doesn’t work out, it will be the coalition’s responsibility entirely and it will bring itself down.”

Yedioth Ahronoth, Maariv and Israel Hayom report on the appointment of the next Police Commissioner Maj. Gen. Moshe “Chico” Edri and his agreement to take a polygraph test. Edri, the current director general of the Public Security Ministry and a former police commander of the districts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, was nominated earlier this month by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan as the next Israel Police commissioner. The Advisory Committee on Appointments of senior postings, headed by retired Judge Eliezer Goldberg, said on Wednesday that Edri would have to undergo a lie-detector due to the lofty and sensitive nature of the commissioner position, the fact that there were complaints against him, and the fact that other contenders for the job had already undergone the test.

Haaretz and Kan Radio reports that the Supreme Court denied a petition by more than 700 residents of Silwan in East Jerusalem and approved their eviction from their homes even though it ruled that the process through which the land had been transferred to the Ateret Cohanim organisation, without notifying the residents, was flawed. The petition was filed by 104 residents of the Silwan neighbourhood where a neighbourhood of Jewish immigrants from Yemen existed at the turn of the 20^th century. The custodian general 16 years ago transferred the land to Ateret Cohanim, which promotes expanding Jewish communities in East Jerusalem, and the organisation has since been working to have the families evicted. The justices ruled that although the decision was not made public properly, the residents’ claims have to be arbitrated in civil proceedings. Nir Hasson in Haaretz argues that this decision and others “show that Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has completed her revolution. The High Court decision in Silwan is at best a rubber stamp for injustice, endowed with legal and moral flexibility; at worst, the court is leading the conservative and reactionary charge, both legally and in Israeli society more generally”.

Yediot Ahronot reports that police suspect that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri earned two million shekels from tax evasion. The interior minister is suspected of fraud and breach of trust, perjury, tax evasion and money laundering in four different cases, including the sale and acquisition of properties, and money he received and failed to report to the proper authorities. The affair began with a covert investigation by the police and the Money Laundering and Terror Finance Prohibition Authority over suspicions of unusual activity in the bank accounts of Minister Deri and his family members. Deri’s bureau issued a statement after the recommendations to indict him were made public, which read: “We believe that once the State Attorney’s Office addresses the matter, all the allegations will be dropped and it will become evident that Minister Aryeh Deri did not break the law.”

Kan Radio News reports that an infiltration attempt by a Palestinian to the settlement of Har Gilo adjacent to Jerusalem was foiled yesterday. The settlement’s security officer detected the attempt to infiltrate the settlement through its perimeter fence and called the Border Police and the quick-response team. The Palestinian was apprehended before managing to get through the fence. The bag he was carrying contained work tools and several knives.

Times of Israel reports that a top Iranian general claimed US military personnel and assets in the Middle East were within range of his country’s missiles. Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the air division for the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said improvements to Iran’s missile arsenal had put US bases in Qatar, the UAE and Afghanistan within reach, as well as US aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.