The Telegraph says that the Palestinian representative in London has described proposed new government guidelines on boycotting produce from specific countries, including Israel as “defending Israel’s occupation.” Cabinet Office Minister Matt Hancock, is set to announce the measures during a visit to Israel this week, which are partly intended to prevent boycotts from damaging community relations. However, the Palestinian representative is quoted saying that “peace will only come when Israel is under pressure.”

Writing on the subject in the Guardian online, Michael White says that boycotts are often acts of “intolerance in the name of diversity or victimhood,” but that it is “wrong to curtail the liberties of councillors.”

The Times, Telegraph and Daily Mail all cover the resignation of the co-chair of the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC). He resigned in light of the club’s decision to support Israel Apartheid Week at the university. He went on to describe some OULC members as having expressed sympathy with Hamas and that “a large proportion of both OULC and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews.”

The Independent i, Evening Standard and Metro all report that an initial phase of restoration has been completed at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Some of the cost has reportedly been paid for by the Palestinian Authority, with the site a major tourist location.

The Times says that Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Dehghan is visiting Moscow, seeking to broker a £5.6 billion arms deal which would include the procurement of fighter jets by Tehran.

Meanwhile, according to the online editions of the Guardian, Telegraph and Independent, Russia has denied that it was responsible for bombing several hospitals in Syria, killing scores of civilians. A Financial Times editorial says that the United States and her allies must do everything short of taking military action, in order to stop President Putin’s Russia in Syria. The Guardian says that Turkey has called for a safe zone in Syria to halt the flow of refugees to its border, while according to the Independent online, the Assad regime has agreed to permit the entry of aid into seven besieged areas.

In the Guardian online, Ian Black reviews Asaf Siniver’s new biography of Israel’s legendary Cambridge-educated, former-Foreign Minister Abba Eban.

In the Israeli media, the top story in Maariv is a rare television appearance by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who threatened to strike an ammonia plant in the northern city of Haifa during the next conflict with Israel. He said that it is Hezbollah’s equivalent of a nuclear bomb and that it would cause around 800,000 casualties. Nasrallah’s threat is also a major item in Israel Hayom, while Israel Radio news reports that Israel’s Environment Minister Avi Gabbay has said that Israel is taking steps to remove the plant from Haifa.

Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom prominently cover an incident yesterday at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, in which the Washington Post bureau chief William Booth and a colleague were briefly questioned by police, in response to a passer-by who complained of an attempt to instigate violence. A subsequent police statement called the incident an “unfortunate misunderstanding” and apologised for any distress caused. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Ben-Dror Yemini says that the police “need training, and more training, in all that pertains to contact with journalists,” but reminds readers that unlike other countries in the region, although “mishaps” occur in Israel “journalists are allowed to report whatever they want. They enjoy absolute freedom.”

Meanwhile, Israel Radio news says that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday in Berlin. He asked for Germany’s help in returning the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, which are being held by Hamas in Gaza.