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Media Summary

26/10/2015

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The Guardian, Independent, Independent i and the online edition of the Financial Times all report that Israel has agreed to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s suggestion to introduce 24/7 security cameras on the Temple Mount, but that the Palestinians have rejected such a measure as an increase in Israeli control at the site. Kerry last week met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah in a bid to defuse the current wave of violence which has killed eleven Israelis. On Saturday evening, Netanyahu again reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to maintain the status quo at the emotive Temple Mount, a move praised by Jordan.

The Telegraph, Guardian and Independent i all cover an incident on Saturday evening, which saw an Arab Israeli citizen hang-glide across the country’s border into Syria. Israeli forces sent up flares to track the man from Jaljuliya, but reports suggest that his flight was an intentional move to cross the border and join an Islamist terror group, possibly ISIS. Prime Minister Netanyahu is reported to have said yesterday that should this be the case, the man’s Israeli citizenship would be revoked.

In Syria itself, the Telegraph says that John Kerry met with the King of Saudi Arabia and that the United States and the Saudi government pledged to intensify their support for selected Syrian rebels opposing the Assad regime. Meanwhile, the Guardian online reports that Syria’s President Assad told visiting Russian MPs that he is willing to hold an early presidential election if “terrorist” groups are first defeated. The online editions of the Times and Financial Times report that Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called such an election “necessary” and said that Russian air strikes will support “patriotic opposition” groups in their fight against ISIS.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Israel Hayom is the inclement weather which suddenly struck Israel yesterday. A heavy storm caused significant damage in the northern coastal region, resulting in a single death. Meanwhile, as this morning’s front page headlines highlight, hundreds of thousands of Israelis were left without power as a result of the storm, leading to criticism of the electricity services. Yediot Ahronot’s headline reads “Electricity supply fiasco.”

Haaretz and Maariv prominently cover the Arab Israeli man who hang-glided into Syria on Saturday. Maariv’s Yossi Melman emphasises that the incident was an isolated case, commenting “Joining ISIS, as troubling as it is for both the Arab Israeli leadership and mainly the families, is a marginal phenomenon … Arab Israelis are to be admired for the position they have taken vis-à-vis terror.”

Meanwhile, Yediot Ahronot includes an exclusive by Alex Fishman which claims that “the CIA, under the commander of General David Petraeus, had—apparently, with the president’s permission—made feverish efforts to recruit Israeli citizens who were veterans of classified units and who were working in Israeli and American high-tech companies on US soil.” The report appears to be something of a reprisal for what was seen as a White House leak over the weekend to the Wall St Journal, which claimed that Israeli jets entered Iranian airspace in 2012.

Israel Hayom highlights the beginning yesterday of a week of events to commemorate the 20th anniversary since the assassination of former-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was shot and murdered by a Jewish Israeli extremist at a peace rally in 1995. The opening event yesterday took place at the President’s residence, at which President Reuven Rivlin said that he would never allow the release from prison of Rabin’s assassin during his term in office. Israel Radio news says that an official state ceremony will take place at Rabin’s grave on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem today, followed by a special Knesset session.