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Media Summary

01/12/2015

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The Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, Independent i, Evening Standard and Metro all report that a Jerusalem court yesterday found two Jewish men guilty of the brutal burning and murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khadir last summer. The murder came a week after three Jewish Israeli boys who had been kidnapped in the West Bank were found dead. Abu Khadir’s murder shocked Israel and was officially classified as a terror attack. The verdict on a third man has been delayed until later this month after his defence team pleaded insanity. Sentencing is expected in January.

The Independent i offers a brief report from the global climate conference in Paris, mentioning that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas momentarily came face to face and shook hands.

The Independent i also includes a short feature on a ballet programme for girls in the Gaza Strip, which has proven popular since recently launching. The dance programme appears to have helped some of the girls overcome the trauma of witnessing recent conflict.

The Guardian covers yesterday’s announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron that a Commons vote on air strikes in Syria will take place on Wednesday. The announcement came after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn agreed to a free vote for Labour MPs following a tense Shadow Cabinet meeting on the issue.

In Syria itself, the Times says that Russia has opened a second air base as Moscow looks to expand operations. Meanwhile, the online edition of the Times reports that six members of ISIS’s propaganda team have been killed in north eastern Syria, most likely by Kurdish fighters.

In the Israeli media, Haaretz, Israel Hayom and Maariv lead with a major development in an investigation of an unnamed incident involving Jewish Israeli terror in the West Bank. The case is under a gag order and so there are no further details, yet it is still the leading item in several dailies. They also cover the conviction yesterday of two men over the murder of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khadir last summer.

The top story in Yediot Ahronot and also covered prominently in Haaretz, Maariv and Israel Hayom is the resignation yesterday of Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal, who had been accused during the last week of sexual harassment by four women during his time at the Walla news site. Magal insists that he did nothing illegal, but accepted that his position was no longer tenable. Commenting in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon says that Magal had little other choice, but that “there is also a moral to this story: If you are a young person who is thinking about a public career, behave every day of your life.”

Meanwhile, Maariv covers the brief meeting yesterday in Paris between Prime Minister Netanyahu and PA President Abbas in Paris. Israel Hayom takes a different look at Paris and focuses on Netanyahu’s 45-minute meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu indicated that cooperation with Russia would be intensified as the situation in Syria continues to unfold. Earlier this week, Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that cooperation with Russia had averted a confrontation when a Russian jet inadvertently entered Israeli air space within the past several weeks.