There is widespread coverage of yesterday’s sentencing of Elor Azaria to 18 months imprisonment, after the Israeli soldier was convicted of manslaughter for killing an incapacitated Palestinian assailant last year in Hebron. The Times, Independent, Metro and i cover the sentencing, and the Financial Times notes that the case “has divided public opinion in Israel”. The Daily Mail says that the 18-month sentence was a “show of leniency” by the military court, after the prosecution had requested a three to five-year sentence. The Telegraph includes quotes from Jewish Home leader, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who called for Azaria to be pardoned, while the Guardian highlights the response of the family of the Palestinian assailant killed by Azaria, who called it a “show trial”.

The Guardian online covers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival in Australia yesterday on a State visit. Netanyahu called his hosts “extraordinary friends,” while his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull penned an article in The Australian criticising those who view Israel “exclusively through the lens of its conflict with the Palestinians”. Turnbull also wrote in support of the two-state solution and criticised one-sided United Nations’ resolutions which are critical of Israel.

Writing in the Financial Times, Amos Yadlin, Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, says that relocating the United States’ Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “would right a historic wrong”. Yadlin says that although there would be “some risks” to such a move, the warnings that it would trigger diplomatic or security catastrophe are “overblown”.

The Israeli media this morning is dominated by yesterday’s sentencing of Elor Azaria. It is the top story in Yediot Ahronot, Haaretz, Maariv and Israel Hayom, which highlights calls by some politicians to have Azaria pardoned. Maariv includes a poll, which indicates that 56 per cent of Israelis believe that the sentence handed to Azaria was too harsh.

Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Shlomo Pyoterkovsky argues that “once Azaria was convicted of manslaughter, the court could not have been more forthcoming [with its sentencing] than it was… I believe that the court did what had to be done and recognised the unique situation”.

Also in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon urges Azaria to “take the sentence and run. Grab hold of it with both hands and stay away from anyone who tries to persuade you to appeal it as you would from fire”.

In Maariv, Ben Caspit takes aim at Azaria’s lawyers. He says: “A sane defence team, who had the best interests of the soldier and the good of the country at heart, would have emphasized Azaria’‎s young age, the fact that the state sends these near-children into difficult situations and sometimes they make the wrong decision… ‎Instead, we got what we got: a rabble cursing the chief of staff and taking over the city square.”

In other news, Maariv prominently reports that Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President al-Sisi met and firmly stated that there is no alternative to the two-state solution. It comes after US President Donald Trump indicated last week that he would be open to an alternative agreeable to Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel Radio news reports that an anonymous high-ranking official close to Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that a regional peace initiative last year, which it was recently revealed, involved Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the United States, fell apart because Washington attempted to dictate terms which were unacceptable to Israel.

In a separate story, Israel Radio says that the judicial selection committee will convene this afternoon in an attempt to choose four new judges for the Supreme Court, but that it is possible no decision will be reached today.