The Financial Times and the Telegraph online both report comments made by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on CBS Face the Nation program. He warned that Iran is only several weeks away from having the ability to cross the ‘red line’ which he outlined in a speech at the United Nations in September, of 250 kilograms of twenty percent enriched uranium, which is considered just a small step away from weapons grade quality material. Netanyahu also said that despite indications of moderation coming from Iran’s new President Hassan Rowhani, he is in fact a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ whose strategy is to ‘smile and build a bomb.’

Meanwhile, the Times reports that Egypt’s deposed president Mohammed Morsi is being questioned ahead of likely charges of treason by the country’s military rulers. However, the Guardian online claims that Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been involved in behind the scenes talks with Egypt’s military leaders over reaching a political settlement. The Independent i and the online edition of the Financial Times report on an Egyptian army offensive in the Sinai Peninsula against Islamist extremists who have launched a series of attacks against Egyptian security forces since the ouster of Morsi.

Both the Independent and the online edition of the Telegraph say that fierce fighting has taken place in the Qaboon district of Syria’s capital Damascus. Opposition forces fighting against the Assad regime claim that around two hundred civilians are trapped in a mosque due to the fighting and that a massacre could take place. The Times online includes an eye-witness account of the fighting in Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Independent says that there is serious strife among opposition forces following the killing last week of a Free Syrian Army commander by an Islamist rebel group. The Times reports that the Pakistani Taliban have announced that they are sending hundreds of fighters to join the Syrian opposition.

In the Israeli media, Maariv and Haaretz highlight Prime Minister Netanyahu’s warning over Iran’s nuclear development in an interview on CBS, in which he indicated that he would take action against the Iran’s nuclear installations if necessary. However, both Maariv and Makor Rishon say that an unnamed Israeli official believes that Israel’s military and political leadership is not sufficiently unified behind the idea of such a military strike.

Yediot Ahronot says that Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, was summoned to Jerusalem to discuss tension between the two countries. According to the report, the United States has reacted angrily to a promise that Israel apparently made to the Chinese government not to permit senior officials in the Israeli security establishment to testify against the Bank of China in a lawsuit filed with the New York Federal Court by a family of terror victims.

Meanwhile, Makor Rishon highlights Labour Party leader Shelly Yachimovich’s decision to call a leadership primary on 14 November. The article says that her three main rivals, Issac Herzog, Eitan Cabel and Erel Margalit will join forces against her.

Israel Radio news and Makor Rishon report that a third ultra-Orthodox soldier within the past week was accosted last night in Jerusalem by fellow members of the ultra-Orthodox community, in what appears to be a campaign of intimidation against military enlistment. President Shimon Peres yesterday condemned the attacks and called for ultra-Orthodox leaders to show support for soldiers from their community.