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Media Summary

Yemen ceasefire hopes dashed

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BBC News Online, the Guardian, Telegraph and Times all report that Israeli authorities have arrested and indicted a former government minister on charges of spying for Iran. Former Energy and Infrastructure Minister Gonen Segev is accused of passing secrets about Israel’s energy and security facilities to the Islamic Republic in exchange for money. Last month he was deported from Equatorial Guinea to Israel in order to stand trial in Jerusalem.

The Telegraph, Times and the Express report that Israel struck a vehicle belonging to a Palestinian man who had sent firebombs from Gaza into Israel using kites. More than 300 fires have burned around 6,000 acres of Israeli farmland and nature reserves in recent weeks.

The Independent reports that UK-based campaign charity War on Want has accused the UK Government of being “deeply complicit in some of the most devastating state violence in our time,” in reference to the recent violence on the Israel-Gaza border. The organisation’s claim is based on the UK decision to abstain from the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution condemning Israel’s use of live fire, but which failed to mention Hamas. Ryvka Barnard, senior campaigns officer for War on Want, said: “In abstaining from this vote, the UK government has yet again refused to commit to the protection of Palestinians’ human rights as they are targeted with the brutal and unlawful use of force by the Israeli military.”

In a letter to the Guardian, Dave Rich, Head of Policy at the Community Security Trust,  responded to an earlier letter calling for a new definition of antisemitism. Rich points out that the  International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition already “has government backing and is fast becoming the standard non-legal guide as to what constitutes antisemitism”. He also notes that “old antisemitic myths and tropes are recycled and updated to ascribe the same conspiratorial power and malevolent intent to “Zionists” that antisemites have long ascribed to Jews”.

The Telegraph, Guardian, BBC News Online, Reuters and Independent report on the ongoing fighting in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah. Reuters reports that the Saudi coalition stormed the airport compound yesterday in an attempt to capture it from the Houthi rebels. The Guardian reports that the UN’s hopes of negotiating a ceasefire between the coalition and rebels are fading after the coalition demanded the Houthis’ unconditional withdrawal from Hodeidah.

All the Israeli media lead with the latest development in the sensational story of Gonen Segev.  Yediot Ahronot leads with a description of him “ Doctor, Minister, “ Iranian Spy”, while Israel Hayom says: “Minister, Drug Smuggler, Spy for Iran.”   Yediot Ahronot quotes Segev’s lawyers, Eli Zohar and Moshe Mazor,  who said: “The report that was cleared has given the matter undue gravity, even though the indictment, the full particulars of which remain confidential, paints a different picture”.  The paper also includes the assessment, from security establishment officials who believe that “the damage that he did to state security is minimal. He has not been privy to classified information for a long time”. However, “Iran and Hezbollah have been making a tremendous effort to gather intelligence about Israel, and this is mostly a psychological achievement for Iran. Recruiting and handling a former minister under the radar is a substantial accomplishment, even if they did not benefit from it greatly”.

Commenting in Yediot Ahronot, Ronen Bergman writes: “Segev’s recruitment and service as an Iranian asset illustrates several important lessons, once again. First: Iranian intelligence is operating across the board with the goal of infiltrating Israel and getting as much information as it can. Second: “the Iranians are shooting in every direction,” as the GSS put it. In other words, the Iranians will recruit anyone they can—from high-quality targets, such as Segev, down to more low-level Palestinian assets—in hope of gleaning any information. Third: the Iranians, like us, consider themselves to be in the midst of a war against Israel, and that is why they are gathering intelligence in anticipation of a possible escalation. The fourth lesson: the GSS division tasked with Iranian counter-intelligence is effective and has successfully discovered numerous Iranian plots. Fifth: with the exception of Tanenbaum, who was mainly in Hezbollah’s hands, the Iranians have failed to recruit even a single significant asset in Israel—at least based on what has been reported to date.”

In Maariv, Ben Caspit writes: “If Gonen Segev was Iran’s biggest intelligence asset in Israel then we can continue to sleep soundly at night… Segev hasn’t had access to any real information for two decades, and the damage that he could have caused Israel wasn’t large. When he was imprisoned last time for dealing in drugs, Segev was placed in a regular prison, in a regular cell, as a regular prisoner. Had he been a real secret-bearer he would have been imprisoned under special conditions in an isolated cell. None of that changes the fact that the man is a traitor, allegedly, to his country and must pay the full price for that… Segev is a public relations whale but an intelligence minnow.”

Yediot Ahronot covers the continuing issue of the flying firebombs coming from Gaza.  This morning they report the IDF has changed its policy in the Gaza Strip and has begun to attack Hamas targets in response to the incendiary kites and the flying firebombs that are sent in the direction of Israeli communities in the western Negev.  Kan Radio News this morning reported around 20 fires were caused by incendiary kites yesterday. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said that kites could become legitimate military targets if they were used for warfare.   Members of the  Knesset on the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee said that Southern Command Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Ofer Levi told MKs at a meeting in camera that people flying kites from Gaza should be fired upon, but that legal problems precluded the military from doing so. He said that shooting at some of them would substantially reduce the number of kites being set aloft. MKs who attended the meeting said that Brig. Gen. Levi was referring to the Judge Advocate General, who has not authorised the military to open fire on people flying kites.  The IDF Spokesperson’s Office replied by saying that the remarks that had been quoted were not representative of the IDF’s position on the matter.

Haaretz and Israel Hayom report that an American official said that it was Israel that had conducted air strikes near the Syrian-Iraqi border early yesterday morning and not the United States, as Syria alleged. The location of the air strikes is far from Israel and the aircraft reportedly had to overcome logistical obstacles en route to the target. Syrian opposition figures said that dozens of members of militias that are loyal to Assad and Iran were killed in the air strikes.

Israel Hayom reports on an incident in London, when a  47 year old female suspect was arrested on Sunday after she ran after children with a knife while shouting “I want to kill all you Jews” in the Haringey area of London.  It is not clear if this was an antisemitic incident or if the woman is mentally ill.