Several papers on Sunday reported that Iran’s president said yesterday in one of his sharpest attacks to date, that Israel’s existence is an “insult to all humanity”, even as Israeli leaders openly debate whether to attack Iran over its nuclear programme. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said confronting Israel was an effort to “protect the dignity of all human beings”. The Guardian and the Times on Saturday noted a dispute between Israel’s President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over comments Peres made opposing a unilateral Israeli attack in Iran. The Times on Saturday also analyses the implications of Syria’s civil war for the world. Israel’s principle fear is that Syrian forces will lose control of their sizeable chemical weapons stockpile – and that Hezbollah militants will ship them to Lebanon for use in a future conflict with the Jewish state. The Independent on Sunday noted that the UN inspectors’ force left Syria on Sunday. The Sunday Express reports that militants in Egypt wounded three military officers and a policeman in a rocket-propelled-grenade attack yesterday, according to unofficial sources. The Independent on Saturday reported that electricity supplies to the West Bank could be cut off next week unless the Palestinian Authority pays the Israel Electric Corporation more than £63m in unpaid bills.

In the UK media today, the Daily Telegraph publishes a report on the Iranian navy and assesses that in case of a conflict over the country’s nuclear programme, Iran will use its fleet of speedboat to carry out attacks against US forces in the Persian Gulf. The Guardian reports that amid fears that it could provoke a militant response from Palestinians violence by Jewish settlers has been cited for the first time in a US state department list of “terrorist incidents”. Israeli political leaders have also condemned a string of recent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The Independent and the Times report that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tried to keep up the veneer that it was business as usual yesterday, attending prayers for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, but the rare public appearance underlined the pressure he is facing.

In the Israeli media today, the Times of Israel cites a Channel 10 News report that a military conflict between Israel and Iran could cost up to $42 billion. Haaretz reports that four minors were arrested in connection with an attack in Jerusalem on Palestinian teenagers, in which one victim was seriously injured and three others were slightly hurt. Haaretz also reports that Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Sunday that the firebomb attack on a Palestinian taxi on Thursday, in which six people were wounded, was “a terrorist attack.” Ynet and Israel Hayom note a statement made by US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey in which he noted the different assessments in the US and Israel regarding Iran’s nuclear programme, and confirmed that he is in close contact with his Israeli counterpart, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. Haaretz notes that Canada’s largest protestant church approved a resolution requesting the Canadian government to ensure that all products produced in the settlements ‘be labelled clearly and differently from products of Israel.’ Ynet and the Jerusalem Post note that an Iron Dome battery was placed near Eilat to counter the rocket threat from Sinai. Israel Hayom reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described Israel as a “cancerous tumour.”