The Telegraph, FT and Reuters report that French oil company Total has abandoned its gas project in Iran. The Telegraph reports that Total has turned its back on its billion-dollar plans to develop the world’s biggest gas project in Iran as the threat of US sanctions against the Middle Eastern state begin to take their toll. Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh reportedly told the state broadcaster that Total has officially left Iran in response to US threats to impose sanctions on companies that do business in the country. “The process to replace [Total] with another company is underway,” he said. The FT reports that Zanganeh said that the process to replace Total with another company — Total owns just over half of the South Pars project with China’s state-owned CNPC taking another 30 per cent — is under way. Total had said in May that it would be forced to leave Iran if it did not win a waiver protecting it from US sanctions. Reuters reports that Total said “As for the future of Total’s share, we have not been informed of an official CNPC position, but as we have always said, CNPC, a Chinese state-owned company, has the right to resume our participation if it decides so.”

The BBC and Independent report that singer Lana Del Rey has defended her decision to perform in Israel next month. The singer has been criticised since announcing her debut performance at the Meteor Festival, with some people calling it a “serious mistake”. “I would like to remind you that performing in Tel Aviv is not a political statement or a commitment to the politics there,” she wrote. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel urged the singer to “reconsider”. The Independent reports that Lana Del Rey also said that “We signed onto the show [with] the intention that it would be performed for the kids there and my plan was for it to be done with a loving energy [with] a thematic emphasis on peace,” she wrote, posting the statement to Twitter. “If you don’t agree with it I get it. I see both sides.”

The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Sun report on Jeremy Corbyn’s links with Hamas. The Times reports that Corbyn has been reported to parliament’s ethics watchdog over claims that he failed to declare a visit to the Middle East. In November 2010 Corbyn visited Israel and the West Bank with the lobby group Middle East Monitor and met two parties of Hamas officials. He failed to declare in the Commons register that the trip had been funded by Middle East Monitor and another group, Friends of Al-aqsa.  Israeli television channel, i24News, uncovered the trip. The Telegraph reports that Hamas has pledged its support for Corbyn. Hamas, which was recently proscribed by the European Court of Justice, praised Corbyn for his political activism declaring “we salute Jeremy Corbyn’s supportive positions to the Palestinians.”

The Daily Mail reports that a key ally of Corbyn had also met senior members of Hamas. Tony Lloyd, shadow secretary for Northern Ireland, was pictured meeting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and senior Hamas MP Ahmad Bahar in 2011. Haniyeh was added to the United States’ ‘terror list’ earlier this year. Mr Lloyd embarked on the £1,680 trip to Gaza and Egypt as a guest of the Council for European Palestinian Relations, which services as Hamas’ representative in Europe. He recently defended Labour’s decision not to adopt the full IHRA definition of antisemitism, controversially arguing that Labour’s current definition will ‘match up’. The Sun reports that Corbyn wrote that he talked politics over “a takeaway dinner” with Khaled Mashal in the bombed out wreck on the Parliament building in Gaza where they discussed working together to fight for Palestine. A column written by Corbyn in the communist Morning Star newspaper surfaced where he claimed to have held a “long meeting” with ringleader Mashal – a renowned Holocaust denier – in January 2010.

Writing in the The Times, Anshel Pfeffer reports on Rabbi Alter, the leader of the ultra-orthodox Ger Hassidic sect.  Pfeffer writes that “Netanyahu warned the leaders of the coalition parties that if they can not agree on a controversial new law, regulating the conscription of ultra-Orthodox students, he will be forced to call early elections”. However “As members of Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, which holds a slender majority in the Knesset, the rabbis exercise great influence on policy and legislation.”

In the New Statesman, Ronen Bergman reports on the history of Mossad, Israelis intelligence agency. Bergman writes that Mossad was created by David Ben-Gurion to conduct intelligence operations outside Israel. In the report Bergman details the 2010 Mossad operation in Dubai in which a Mossad hit squad assassinated a leading Hamas operative.

The new law has been forced on the government by the High Court, which has repeatedly ruled that existing legislation, allowing for the exemption of yeshiva (religious seminary) students, from being conscripted into the army, is unconstitutional.

The Israeli media focuses on the sale of the Israeli company SodaStream, which PepsiCo acquired for USD 3.2 billion. Before it built a new plant in the Negev, SodaStream’s main factory used to be located in the Mishor Adumim industrial zone beyond the Green Line, and the company has been a major target for the BDS movement.

Yediot Ahronoth, Haaretz, Maariv and Israel Hayom all feature the death of Uri Avnery on their front page. In Yediot Ahronot Ronen Bergman writes that “many journalists in Israel can call Avnery their mentor. His spirit inspired all of us: the wish to be part of the same kind of strong, independent, kicking and investigative journalism looking inside the government, whoever was in the government.” Haaretz refers to him as “the one who shaped our awareness”.

Yediot Ahronot reports details of an infiltration attempt by Hamas yesterday morning in the northern Gaza Strip near Zikim Beach. The serious attempted attack took place around 07:00 when a Hamas fighter armed with a Kalashnikov and grenades attempted to infiltrate Israeli territory and carry out an attack against personnel constructing the naval barrier. The paper writes that “this type of incident, which was recorded by IDF observation post cameras, would have received significant attention from the IDF Spokesperson’s Office on any other day, but not yesterday” suggesting that the IDF played down the incident in order not to undermine the emerging truce.

Kan Radio News quotes Palestinian paper Al-Quds which reports that US President Trump will discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan during his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York in five weeks. The paper claimed that Trump would not present the specific plan in his speech, but that he would describe the administration’s efforts to achieve a peace plan. The report further stated that Trump is expected to announce in his speech that if his administration does not succeed in making peace in the region, no other administration would succeed in doing so in the future.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamas will not lay down its weapons or “pay any political price” as part of any cease-fire agreement with Israel. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar told online newspaper Al-Khaleej “We benefit from the truce. Our weapons will remain in our hands and there are no conditions regarding Hamas’s right to [continue] the resistance. The truce does not require a political price [from Hamas] and it is not part of the deal of the century.”

Kan Radio News reports that hundreds of people attended the funeral of Ahmed Mahamid, who tried to stab a policeman in Jerusalem on Friday and who was buried last night in Umm el-Fahm. The attendees called out “in spirit and blood, we shall redeem you, oh martyr!” and flew Palestinian flags. The police will open an investigation into Mahamid’s family on the grounds that it violated the conditions under which it was allowed to hold the funeral.

The Times of Israel and Army Radio report that 2 Iranians have been indicted in the US accused of spying for Iran and surveillance of Israeli and Jewish targets. The charge sheet alleges one of the men covertly took photos at several Jewish centres in Chicago, including the Hillel Centre and Rohr Chabad House.

The Times of Israel and YNET report that restrictions will be lifted to allow IDF combat veterans to carry guns even without proving a specific need will mean more than half a million more Israelis will become eligible to carry guns. Public Security Minister Erdan says the move is aimed at improving response to terror attacks. Under the old rules, Israelis had to prove a need for the firearms, such as living or working in an area considered dangerous and undergo regular testing and training.