The Financial Times features an interview with Israel’s Finance Minister, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, in which he denounces anti-Israel campaigns in Europe, raising concerns that they hurt Israel. Lapid also criticises the latest European Union (EU) funding guidelines, which he says hurt the prospects of a peace deal. In addition, he revealed that he was “taken by surprise” at the announcement of new plans for settlement construction earlier this week by Jewish Home’s Housing Minister Uri Ariel. Lapid also comments that ruling Palestinians in the West Bank harms “us terribly internationally, and it threatens the concept of Israel as a Jewish state.”

Meanwhile, the Independent, Independent i and the online edition of the Telegraph cover a story from Haaretz yesterday, exposing a series of inappropriate Facebook comments by Danny Seaman, who was appointed this week to head a new Israeli government public diplomacy campaign. Seaman has subsequently been suspended from his position.

A powerful car bomb which yesterday ripped through a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, killing an estimated fourteen people, is covered by the Times, Guardian, Independent, Independent i and the online editions of the Telegraph and Financial Times. The blast is assumed to be a response to Hezbollah’s military support for President Assad’s forces in Syria, having spearheaded attacks in some areas against opposition forces. The Times reports that a previously unknown group took responsibility for the attack and warned Syrians to leave Hezbollah-controlled areas of Lebanon.

The aftermath of Wednesday’s extreme violence in Egypt continues to reverberate. The online editions of the Guardian and the Times report US President Obama’s condemnation of the violence and his decision to cancel a planned joint military drill. The Financial Times covers similar responses from a variety of Western leaders, while the online editions of the Telegraph and Times say that Egypt’s Ambassador to the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office where he claimed that Egypt’s military had acted in self-defence. The Guardian online says that Labour leaders are pushing Foreign Secretary William Hague to convene an emergency EU meeting to cut aid to Egypt.

There is a wealth of commentary on Egypt. The Financial Times says that the United States should isolate Egypt’s military while John O’Sullivan in the Times criticises muddled US foreign policy. In the Guardian, Spencer Ackerman argues that American reluctance to cut aid to Egypt will only reduce its influence on Cairo, while Sharshank Joshi in the Telegraph predicts that the violence will only increase radicalism in Egypt. Mary Dejevsky in the Independent says that the West must begin to see the Egyptian reality, a vast poor and backward state rather than a country pining for democracy.

The online editions of the Times and Independent report that a United Nations chemical weapons inspection team is poised to enter Syria to investigate the alleged use of illicit weapons.

A major headline in this morning’s Israeli media is the massive car bomb targeting Hezbollah in Beirut yesterday. The Yediot Ahronot headline declares “Blow to Hezbollah,” while Maariv covers claims by Lebanon’s President of Israeli involvement, despite an admission of responsibility for the attack from a Sunni group. In Yediot Ahronot, a unnamed Israel Foreign Ministry official called the comments “ridiculous” and said it sounded as if Lebanon’s President were “reading Hezbollah’s PR sheet with a gun to his head.”

Reflecting the uncertainty in the region following this week’s events in Egypt too, Israel Hayom’s headline is “Bloodbath from Cairo to Beirut” while Sof Hashavua declares similar sentiments with the headline “Middle East on Fire.” Coverage of the tension and violence in Egypt continues in both publications.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio news says that United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Israel today to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and other leaders, as part of a public show of support for renewed peace talks. Ban was in Ramallah yesterday where he met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.