The Financial Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Times, i and Independent cover yesterday’s peace conference in Paris and the British government’s decision to attend only as an observers and not sign a the communique agreed by the delegates at the conference. A Foreign Office statement said it had “reservations” about an international conference to advance peace, which does not include the parties involved. Israeli and Palestinian officials were not invited to yesterday’s conference, attended by representatives from around 70 countries. The Financial Times describes the UK as “breaking ranks” and taking a position to “curry favour” with the incoming Trump administration in Washington. The Guardian also suggests that the UK had “deferred to Trump”.

The Times includes an interview with incoming US President-elect Donald Trump and Michael Gove MP. Covering a range of issues, Trump said that son-in-law Jared Kushner will be handed the task of brokering a Middle East peace deal. Trump also urged the UK to veto any future UN Security Council resolutions critical of Israel.

The Times reports that Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin has written to the Austrian Jewish community saying that he won’t tolerate any alliances by Israelis with the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FOP). The President’s intervention comes after an Israeli figure attended a conference on anti-Semitism, organised by the party in November. The event was viewed by many as an attempt by the FOP, founded by former-Nazi officials in the 1950s, to improve its image.

The Independent says that Russia plans to improve and expand its naval and air bases in Syria. The Telegraph reports that at least 12 civilians were killed by Syrian government forces in a village in the Wadi Barada area, in an attack which threatens to disrupt repairs to a pumping station which provides clean water to Damascus.

The i covers comments made by Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqhchi, who said that the nuclear deal with the West “will not be renegotiated” and that the US “cannot abandon it” or else there will be consequences. Trump has indicated that he will scrap the nuclear deal once in office.

In the Israeli media, the ongoing criminal investigation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the top story in Maariv, Haaretz and Israel Hayom. Maariv highlights further apparent excerpts from conversations between Netanyahu and Yediot Ahronot owner Noni Mozes, which were published by Channel Two. They appear to show Netanyahu arranging meetings between foreign billionaires with whom he has close ties, including Australian James Packer, and Mozes. Mozes himself was questioned by police for eight hours yesterday.

Israel Hayom leads with Netanyahu’s comment on social media that the extensive media coverage is a campaign being orchestrated against him to bring down his government by pressuring the Attorney General to indict him.

Commenting in Yediot Ahronot, Raanan Shaked looks to draw a distinction between the actions of Netanyahu and Mozes. He says: “Netanyahu is a public servant who is selling an asset that doesn’t belong to him and which was never registered in his name — ‎Israeli democracy —‎ in exchange for perpetuating his rule. Mozes is the private owner of a newspaper and, as such, it is his prerogative to sell, buy, change, reflect and, to a certain extent, dictate an editorial line as he wishes.”

Israel Hayom highlights the UK’s decision to issue “reservations” over the conclusions to yesterday’s Paris peace conference. Israel Radio says that Israeli diplomats believe that they were successful in toning down the final text of yesterday’s concluding statement.

The top story in Yediot Ahronot is the reported preliminary findings of an autopsy on the body of a terrorist who last week ploughed a truck into a group of soldiers in Jerusalem, killing four. The autopsy appears to show that the assailant was killed by soldiers on the scene and not an armed civilian. There had been accusations that soldiers fled and did not open fire, in part due to the recent manslaughter conviction of soldier Elor Azaria, after he shot and killed a wounded Palestinian assailant in Hebron.