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Media Summary

Netanyahu holds cabinet meeting in Golan Heights

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The Financial Times and the Times report on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to hold a Cabinet meeting in the Golan Heights. The FT notes that Mr Netanyahu told the Cabinet that the Golan would “forever” be a part of Israel. The area, captured from Syrian in the Six-Day War, has effectively acted as a buffer zone between Israel and the on-going Syrian civil war.

The i revealed that Iran would not attend the OPEC oil-producers summit yesterday evening. The summit was debating massively cutting oil production to raise prices. The FT reports that Saudi Arabia refused to sign any deal on production cuts that doesn’t include Iran, effectively making any deal impossible. Oil prices were reported to have decreased further on the news. Staying on Iran, the i reports on the first Air France flight from Tehran to Paris, while a magazine-style BBC News article discusses the ‘dividends’ of the nuclear deal that Iranians are experiencing.

In the Guardian, Ian Black reports on the plight of the 100,000 Palestinian residents of Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp. UNWRA claims that residents have had no food or water for a week due to fighting between ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra. This crisis comes as the situation on the ground in Syria deteriorates.

The Mirror covers the death of British hotel worker Julie Pearson, who died following a beating from her ex-boyfriend Amjad Hatib. Ms Pearson’s family object to the Israeli post-mortem, which found that she died of natural causes rather than the beating.

The lead story in the Israeli press is the news that Israeli Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog was questioned under caution by the police yesterday. Haaretz and Israel Hayom ran this as their main story and it was covered in all the other papers. Mr Herzog is suspected of accepting a 40,00 NIS (£7,500) illegal donation towards his campaign to be party leader in 2013.

Yediot Ahronot, Maariv, Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post all cover the Golan Heights Cabinet meeting and Mr Netanyahu’s comment about the Heights remaining a part of Israel.

Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz report on the indictment of Shatila Abu Iyada, a 22-year-old Israeli Arab woman who stabbed a woman in Rosh Ha’Ayin in early April. According to the indictment, she originally intended to bomb two restaurants in the city, learnt how to make explosives and scouted out locations to hide the bombs. However, she was unable to obtain the precursor chemicals to make the bombs. She also tried and failed to obtain a gun.

Haaretz reveals that the Shin Bet internal security service opposes limiting the IDF’s freedom of operation in Palestinian-controlled Area A. Palestinian negotiators and the IDF have been discussing the possibility of limiting Israeli military operations in those areas.

Israel Hayom touts a visit to Israel of Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore – the first such visit since Singapore was founded. He will come with a delegation of 60 people including four other government ministers.

All major papers report that Israeli celebrities, led by pop singer Eyal Golan, will hold a public concert in support of the soldier accused of shooting a wounded terrorist in Hebron last month. The concert is timed to coincide with the Military Prosecutor’s decision to formally charge the soldier with manslaughter today. Yediot Ahronot commentator Yossi Yehoshusa claims that the concert/rally is part of a targeted political campaign against IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon.

The Jerusalem Post’s court reporter, Jonah Jeremy Bob, writes a detailed piece on the Supreme Court’s hearing on the Draft Bill. The bill, which removed criminal penalties and pushed back the timeline for drafting Ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF, was a key demand of the Ultra-Orthodox parties in entering the current coalition. According to the Post’s report, the Supreme Court justices seemed highly sceptical about the constitutionality of the law, calling it a “mirage”

Haaretz reports that Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is considering making it illegal to hire a prostitute. The move comes after lobbying from other Knesset members. The committee will look at other countries including France, which recently introduced a similar law to criminalise buyers of sex while helping the women.