The BBC, The Times, The Telegraph, the Guardian, Reuters and the Independent reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has survived a drone attack on his home inside Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone. A drone laden with explosives struck the building, injuring six of his bodyguards in an apparent assassination attempt, officials said. Prime Minister Kadhimi called for “calm and restraint from everyone”. Security sources say three drones were used in the attack, launched from near Republic Bridge on the River Tigris, but two were shot down. No-one has said they carried out the attack, in an area of the city housing many government buildings and foreign embassies.

The Telegraph publishes an opinion by JJ Charlesworth, who argues that the politicisation of culture, noting political boycotts like the one by author Sally Rooney against Israel, “has reached a new low – one in which cultural and artistic life is manipulated by artists and ‘cultural workers’ who want to shut down culture to punish those with whom they disagree”.

The Times and The Guardian follow developments in Sudan where security forces yesterday fired tear gas at several anti-coup rallies after protesters in several cities joined a call from pro-democracy campaigners for two-days of civil disobedience and strikes against last month’s military takeover. Hundreds of protesters rallied in the capital Khartoum, as well as in its twin city of Omdurman, Wad Madni to the south, and the northern city of Atbara. Meanwhile, nearly 100 teachers have been arrested in Sudan in the last two days. A teachers’ union said security forces had used teargas against its members outside the education ministry building for Khartoum state, where 87 were arrested and many were beaten.

Reuters reports that Iran is demanding that all US sanctions be lifted in a verifiable process in order to revive the JCPOA nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the comment a few weeks ahead of a resumption of talks between Tehran and world powers to revive the 2015 deal.

In The Telegraph, Defence Editor Con Coughlin writes that Iran’s meddling is a disaster for Lebanon. “As recent violent clashes in Beirut have demonstrated, the Lebanese people are under no illusions that the principal cause of their misery is Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia militia which effectively controls the country. Though Hezbollah’s leaders insist otherwise, few are under any illusions that the militia controls all levers of national power, from security to the economy.”

In the Israeli media, Channel 12 News’ military affairs correspondent, Nir Dvori, reported yesterday evening that the Mossad recently foiled an Iranian plot to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in Africa, as well as to target Israeli tourists and businesspersons. According to the report, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force recruited, trained and equipped five Africans, who were in the process of scouting out potential targets in Tanzania, Senegal and Ghana when they were arrested by local security forces. This was yet another Iranian attempt to attack Israeli and Jewish targets, and to attack Israeli citizens individually, and is part of an ongoing effort. Recently, two other Iranian plots — one in Cyprus and the other in Colombia — were foiled and exposed thanks to precise intelligence that apparently saved the lives of Israelis.

Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom comment on the challenges facing the coalition government now that the budget has been passed, averting the threat of early elections. Nahum Barnea writes in Yediot: “The successful passing of the state budget fundamentally changed the public’s expectations from this government. The immediate threat that had hovered over its head has now been removed. It isn’t a provisional government anymore, one that is forced to make endless accommodations. It scored a major victory, but that victory came with a price: the voters are now going to expect, and justly so, that the coalition continue to display that same unity, dedication and maturity that it displayed on the night of the budget vote. Any move that reminds the voters of the atmosphere that reigned during Netanyahu’s final years in power will undermine this government’s chances of survival.” Matti Tuchfeld writes in Israel Hayom: “It is not just ideological disparities that will make it difficult for the government to achieve its stated goals, but also its tiny majority and its instability. The moment that the sides start fighting, when either the right or the left side decides unilaterally to support a private member’s bill contrary to coalition discipline, a legislative war is likely to break out leading to a loss of control, with each side pulling in its own direction and unwilling to concede, as it did up until now when the budget was in the balance.”

Walla News reports that US State Department Special Envoy and Coordinator of International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein intends to present Israel and Lebanon with a compromise proposal to settle the dispute over the maritime border between the two countries and the natural gas deposits in the Mediterranean seabed. According to the report, which is based on information provided by senior Israeli officials, Hochstein intends to use the “window of opportunity” that remains open before the general Lebanese elections in March 2022 to study the issue and to formulate a proposal. If that proposal is rejected, Hochstein will abandon his efforts to mediate between the two countries.

Kan Radio notes that Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Immigration and Absorption Minister Tamano-Shata will meet today to discuss expediting efforts to bring thousands of Ethiopian Jews, many of which are waiting in camps in Ethiopia, to Israel in light of the civil war there. A review carried out in July by the Population and Immigration Authority (PIA) found that approximately 60 residents of the Tigray region in Ethiopia had been brought to Israel in a secret operation, after they pretended to be Jewish and said that their lives were in danger because of the fighting. Only after their arrival was it learned that most of them had no ties to Judaism and that they didn’t even live in the area of the fighting. PIA officials said that an Israeli citizen was behind the fraud and said that the security forces had made huge efforts to rescue these Ethiopians, endangering their lives and jeopardising diplomatic ties with Ethiopia.

Haaretz reports that Saddam Haftar, the son of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, flew to Israel last week for a secret meeting with officials in which he offered to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries in return for Israeli support to his father’s military efforts at capturing Tripoli. Israel has avoided taking a public stance on the war, despite allegations of Israeli involvement behind the scenes. Saddam Haftar, who is said to be eyeing Libya’s presidency in its December 23 elections, landed at Ben Gurion Airport last Monday on a private French-made Dassault Falcon jet, which stopped briefly in Israel on its way from Dubai to Libya. The article said it was not known which Israeli officials he met during the short visit but that he had previously been in contact with the “Tevel” department of the Mossad spy agency, which deals with countries Israel doesn’t have relations with.

Yediot Ahronot publishes a commentary that questions why the Iranian nuclear programme was not mentioned during yesterday’s press conference with Prime Minister Bennett, Foreign Minister Lapid and Finance Minister Lieberman. “The differences of opinion on this issue between Israel and the Americans are far more dramatic than the question of whether an American consulate will be opened in East Jerusalem or not. Iran hasn’t disappeared because Netanyahu is no longer in a position that enables him to wave this stick every two hours. It is a complex dilemma, much deeper and far more critical than the credit that it was given during the era of political chaos.”