The BBC follows the new political-legal dispute between Russia and Israel over a court’s deliberations to shut down the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, which organises Jewish immigration to Israel. The case at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court concerns unspecified legal breaches. A hearing is set for 28 July. An Israeli minister condemned the court case, seeing it as punishment for Israel’s stance on the Ukraine war. Israeli media has reported a surge in the numbers of Russian Jews arriving to settle in Israel this year.

The UK Foreign Office has failed to impose sanctions on key Iranians responsible for the arrest and intimidation of the British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe despite having been passed their names in September last year, writes the Guardian. Chris Bryant, a Labour member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, named Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour, a state TV journalist, and Hossein Taeb, a former head of intelligence in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as part of a group of 10 Iranians who he said needed to be hit with sanctions for state hostage-taking. It is the first time the two names have been released.

The Guardian also reports that Iraq has accused Turkey of a deadly attack on tourists near Kurdish city. Turkey denied it had launched strikes against civilians and instead claimed that the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) was responsible. The bodies of nine tourists killed in a shelling attack in northern Iraq have been flown to Baghdad, as up to 23 survivors were treated in hospital and a political row intensified over who was responsible.

The Independent reports that an Israeli minister has criticised a journalist’s trip to the holy Islamic city of Mecca as “stupid,” claiming it “harms” Israel’s attempts to improve its relations with Gulf nations. Gil Tamary was featured in a 10-minute documentary filmed in the Saudi Arabian city and aired on Israeli television’s Channel 13 News on Monday.

Reuters reports Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday the state can in principle revoke the citizenship of people who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust against the state, including terrorism, espionage or treason. The ruling addressed a 2008 Citizenship Law in Israel that gives the state authority to revoke citizenship based on actions that constitute a “breach of loyalty”.

The Financial Times interviews Iranian director Panah Panahi, whose debut film ‘Hit the Road’ has received international praise, but it cannot be shown in his own country. Panahi told the paper: “I don’t feel like a film-maker in my own country yet”.

Kan News reported this morning that four members of the Syrian military were killed and three were injured last night in Damascus in an airstrike that it attributes to Israel. The Syrian regime said the Israel Air Force had fired several missiles at the Golan Heights area and at army outposts in the suburbs of Damascus after midnight. The Syrian military’s anti-aircraft systems successfully intercepted some of the missiles.  According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights opposition group, some of the missiles were fired at the offices of Syrian Air Force Intelligence and the office of a high-ranking military officer near the Al Maza military airfield, southwest of Damascus. An Iranian weapons storehouse was also reported destroyed in the neighbourhood of Al Sayida Zainab.

Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz all prominently cover Leader of the Opposition Benjamin Netanyahu giving evidence yesterday to a state commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster, where 45 religious pilgrims were killed in a stampede on Lag B’Omer in April last year. This was Israel’s worst civilian disaster in its history.  The papers all note Netanyahu (prime minister at the time) refusing to take responsibility. He is quoted saying: “In retrospect, a terrible disaster happened here that I regret … but you cannot accept responsibility for what you do not know. You can say what could have been done, it is still not clear to me what caused the disaster. I just know that I, my responsibility is to make the necessary decisions according to the things that are brought to me.” He was challenged by the commission’s chairperson, former judge Dvora Berliner, and asked for an explanation as to why the issue of crowding at the site hadn’t been dealt with throughout his 12 years term, despite being brought up several times. She said: “I have a report for the State Comptroller from 2008 and another one from 2014 that repeats the same data … how can you explain this issue not been dealt with for all these years?” Netanyahu spoke of the political pressure from his ultra-Orthodox partners that insisted on keeping the site open.

Ynet covers comments about the Iran nuclear deal made yesterday by Richard Moore, head of MI6, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. Reflecting on a return to the deal, Moore said, “I’m not convinced we’re going to get there … I don’t think the Supreme Leader of Iran wants to cut a deal.” However, “The Iranians won’t want to end the talks either so they could run on for a bit” He added, “I think the deal is absolutely on the table. And the European powers and the administration here are very clear on that. And I don’t think that the Chinese and Russians, on this issue, would block it. But I don’t think the Iranians want it.” Speaking at the same conference, Kan News covers comments by Defence Minister Benny Gantz who said that Israel was capable of taking action on its own against the Iranian nuclear programme but would do so only as a “last resort”. Gantz said that it was very important that President Biden had declared during his visit to Israel that he would not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. The defence minister added that Iran is a global challenge.

Channel 12 News carry a report picked up from Iran International (a channel backed by Saudi Arabia, broadcast from London), that a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) member was caught and interrogated by the Mossad. The report suggests Yadollah Khedmati was captured by Mossad operatives and provided information about weapon shipments to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. According to the report, the interrogation of the senior IRGC member led to the grounding of an Iranian plane in Argentina last month, in suspicion of possible links to the IRGC. Khedmati is thought to have served as the deputy chief of the head of the logistics department in the Revolutionary Guard Corps Ali Asghar Norouzi who is behind the Iranian arms transfers to Hezbollah. On the video Yadollah Khedmati admits, “Norouzi is the man behind all the transfers of missiles, weapons, or drones from the logistics department of the IRGC to neighbouring countries and Hezbollah – and I work in Norouzi’s office and very much regret what I’m doing. I shouldn’t have done that, and I recommend all my coworkers to stop as well.”

All the media covers the completion of IDF’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Kochavi historic to Morocco.  Kochavi is quoted saying: “This visit is another example of historic shift in the region and the role of the IDF in creating a future of partnership.”  Haaretz reviews his itinerary, “Kochavi’s engagements in Morocco began Tuesday, meeting with key security officials, including Moroccan Defence Minister Abdellatif Loudiyi and the Lt. Gen. of Morocco’s army, Belkhir El-Farouk, and extended an official invitation to key Moroccan military figures to visit Israel. Afterwards, he went to the historic Jewish cemetery in Marrakesh, which had been restored by locals.” Adding, “His visit came amid reports that Morocco played a key role in the Israeli decision to give Palestinians around-the-clock access to the Allenby Bridge border crossing, which was announced by US President Joe Biden on Friday.”

All the media cover the Russian court’s decision to close the offices of the Jewish Agency in the country. The official reason: “For violating privacy laws and actively working to help citizens leave who are experts in the fields of science and business, whose departure will be detrimental to the country.” But Israel believes that this dramatic course of action is linked to the position of Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who as foreign minister said that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine and supported the UN’s condemnation. An Israeli delegation will leave next week for Moscow in an attempt to end the crisis.” Yediot Ahronot explains, “If the Jewish Agency closes, this will be a major blow to immigration from Russia and will be a cause of tension between the two countries. In addition to the delegation that will leave next Thursday, National Security Council Director Eyal Hulata is also in touch with his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev. An Israeli official said, “This is all political, under the guise of being a legal matter.” The paper also notes, “since Lapid became prime minister, he and Putin have not spoken. The Russian president did not call to congratulate him either”.

Maariv includes its latest polling, reflecting a familiar pattern.  The Likud receives 35 seats, Yesh Atid: 24, Blue and White-New Hope: 12, Religious Zionist Party: 10, Shas: 8, United Torah Judaism: 6, Yisrael Beiteinu: 6, Joint List: 6, Labour Party: 5, United Arab List: 4, Meretz: 4, Yamina fail to make it over the threshold.  The paper presents the division into blocs: the Netanyahu-ultra-Orthodox bloc: 59; Yesh Atid, Labour Party and Meretz: 33; Blue and White-New Hope and Yisrael Beiteinu: 18; Joint List and UAL: 10.  When asked: “Do you or do you not support Netanyahu’s return as prime minister?” 44 per cent support, 43 per cent don’t support, and 13 per cent said they don’t know. They also ask: “Who is better suited to be prime minister, Yair Lapid or Benny Gantz?” Gantz receives 28 per cent, Lapid 26 per cent and 46 per cent responded ‘Don’t know’.

In the commentary, in Haaretz Amos Harel reflects on the military censor’s decision to allow the publication that the Israel Defence Forces uses assault drones in its operational activities. Harel notes sarcastically, “after a slight delay of more than 30 years” it’s “the worst-kept secret in the Middle East” he describes the background, a “system developed by the army in the 1980s and 1990s as a means of response to a major Syrian land attack. The operational idea was that the army would be able to pinpoint Syrian tanks from a distance and destroy them with precise missile fire before they reached attack range on Israeli tanks.” Shortly after the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000, “Israel embarked on a policy of assassinations of senior leaders of Palestinian terror groups. The first actions were carried out by attack helicopters and later fighter planes … gradually, the army and the Shin Bet began employing assault drones, which fired smaller weaponry, as a main means of assassination. Many senior terrorists, including Ahmad Jabari, known as the Hamas chief of staff, and the Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar (who was released from Israeli prison and operated in the service of Hezbollah in the Syrian Golan, and whose assassination was attributed to Israel) were struck down this way in those years.”