The Guardian reports on Hakeem Jeffries’ proposed elevation to Speaker of the US House of Representatives, accusing him of being close to “the Israel Lobby”. It also reports Robert Wexler as saying that “In fact, I would say, if the pro-Israel community wanted to create a Democratic leader for the future, we would create Hakeem Jeffries… Hakeem is not just interested in these issues. He’s devoted to them. He’s respectful of the American Jewish community. He identifies with it. And he’s just a really nice guy on top of it.”

The BBC and The Guardian report on Benjamin Netanyahu signing a deal to give an Israeli government post to an openly homophobic ultra-nationalist party leader. Avi Maoz will be a deputy minister and run a “Jewish identity” authority. He heads Noam, a religious-nationalist, anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ party that argues for a strict interpretation of Jewish religious laws in Israel.

The BBC and The Guardian also report on Israeli Nadav Lapid, jury chief at the International Film Festival India, who criticised the inclusion of The Kashmir Files at the event. Describing the film as “propaganda”, he said he was “shocked” that it was included in the competition category. A huge commercial hit, the film had sparked controversy during its release. Set during the exodus of Hindus from Indian-administered Kashmir in the 1990s, the film tells the fictional story of a university student who discovers his Kashmiri Hindu parents were killed by Islamist militants.

The BBC, Channel 4 and Reuters also reports on our main story on West Bank violence, saying five Palestinian men have been killed by Israeli forces in four separate incidents in the occupied West Bank. Three men, including two brothers in their 20s, were shot dead during overnight clashes with Israeli troops near the cities of Ramallah and Hebron. Israel’s military said the fourth was shot after he rammed his car into a soldier, seriously injuring her. The fifth reportedly died after fresh clashes near Ramallah in the evening.

Reuters also publishes a piece saying Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron on Tuesday warned lawmakers not to interfere with monetary policy decisions and said the “magic solutions” they proposed to blunt the impact of interest rate hikes would hurt the weakest sectors of the economy. Yaron’s comments appeared to be a response to the head of the Israeli parliament’s powerful finance committee, Moshe Gafni, who on Monday criticised a wave of central bank interest hikes and proposed legislation to shield mortgages from rate increases.

Reuters also reports on outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who on Tuesday urged world leaders to block a Palestinian bid at the United Nations for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on Israel’s occupation, the prime minister’s office said. In a letter, Lapid asked more than 50 heads of state, including those of the UK and France, to pressure the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited rule in the occupied West Bank, and prevent it from promoting the resolution at the General Assembly.

The Daily Mail reports on Israeli journalists being shunned at the World Cup in Qatar, with many fans yelling at them and refusing to conduct interviews once they find out which country they are from. Ordinarily, Israelis can’t easily visit Qatar – but as part of a deal with FIFA, the Gulf state has agreed to let the country’s citizens in for the World Cup. Many Israeli journalists have been met with a frosty reception on the ground, however, with footage circulating online of some World Cup fans in Qatar insulting and refuse to speak to reporters.

Kan Radio and Ynet report that Prime Minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to ask President Isaac Herzog for a two-week extension to the deadline for forming a new government. Netanyahu wants extra time to appoint a new speaker and to pass bills enabling Shas head Aryeh Deri to serve in cabinet despite his criminal convictions and to clarify the scope of the new National Security brief, expected to be filled by Jewish Power head Itamar Ben Gvir. Army Radio, meanwhile, reports further progress in collation negotiations between Netanyahu and Religious Zionist Party chief Bezalel Smotrich, with the latter’s cabinet brief expected to include significant authority over both West Bank and state religious school policy.

In a commentary in Yediot Ahronot, Giora Eiland laments that the complex coalition horse-trading will result in imprecisely defined new ministries inheriting powers that rightly belong elsewhere. “We’ve become accustomed”, says Eiland, “to a situation in which unnecessary ministries are invented, in which governments are inflated to a preposterous size and departments and government agencies are casually moved from one side to the other without any thought. But this time we appear to be crossing red lines that were never crossed before.”

Kan Radio also reports that Netanyahu’s Likud does not share the desire of coalition partners Shas, UTJ, the Religious Zionist Party, and Jewish Power to restrict Israel’s Law of Return. Under the current law, anyone seeking Israeli citizenship who can prove at least one Jewish grandparent is allowed to do so. Netanyahu fears that his bloc partners’ plans to demand closer familial connection will anger important sections of Diaspora Jewry. In a related story, Israel Hayom covers the concerned response of American Jewish organisations to threats by Ben Gvir and Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef to annul the status of Reform conversions and reverse the High Court of Justice’s 2021 ruling recognising non-Orthodox conversions for the purposes of Aliyah. Andrew Rehfeld, President of the Reform Movement’s Hebrew Union College in the United States is quoted saying that: “Such suggestions are… a radical approach to Zionism that puts the Jewish People in a much riskier position and limits the options on the table. I believe that this is a threat to the Jewish state. Whoever delegitimises the actions of thousands of Reform communities in Israel and around the world, threatens our safety and harms the Jewish People. They are taking an anti-Zionist position.”

Maariv reports that one of the soldiers at the centre of last week’s incident in Hebron has expressed regret for comments made concerning Ben Gvir. The Givati Brigade member has been sent to military prison for ten days and conceded that it was “dumb” to say, during clashes with left-wing activists, that “Ben Gvir is going to instate order [in Hebron].” I24 News quotes the IDF as justifying the suspension of the soldier by saying that “it is forbidden for a fighter to express himself in a belligerent way while expressing a political position.” The solider in question was not responsible for a violent assault on an activist, and his father is reported as joining Ben Gvir in criticising the suspension. Yediot Ahronot reports on National Unity MK (and former IDF Chief of Staff) Gadi Eisenkot and Labour MK Gilad Kari’s defence of Lt. Col. Aviran Alfasi – commander of the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion and the figure responsible for the soldier’s suspension – in the face of Ben Gvir’s criticism. Army Radio covers other political responses, citing Jewish Power MK Zvika Fogel regretting attacks on Alfasi and instead blaming outgoing Defence Minister Benny Gantz. Maariv also reports that thirty human rights organisations plan to visit the West Bank city this coming Friday in a show of solidarity with the assault victim.

Haaretz runs a lengthy investigation into the role of Tal Dillan, a former Israeli intelligence commander, in the supply of “high-end surveillance technology” to the notorious Sudanese militia, the Rapid Support Forces. The investigation quotes Anette Hoffmann, senior research fellow at the Clingendael Institute, as saying that: “Equipping the RSF with sophisticated surveillance technology will not only exacerbate the brutal repression and killing of Sudan’s remarkably brave protestors and squash hopes for democracy in the region. Such advanced spyware in the hands of the RSF will tilt the balance of power in favour of a ruthless former militia and Russia ally, bringing Sudan one step closer to an open confrontation with the country’s armed forces and increasing the risk of civil war.”

In a cautionary piece in Yediot Ahronot, Michael Milstein, a senior researcher at the Institute for Policy and Strategy, argues that the ongoing Qatar World Cup has exposed the limits of the Abraham Accords in normalising Israeli relations with the Arab world: “The World Cup has allowed Israelis to interact with the Arab street—and not just the Qatari street—presenting it a clear view, one that isn’t filtered through the moving speeches given by leaders and impressive ceremonies, of the authentic attitude of held by Arab communities towards Israel, and the disparities that exist between that attitude and the stance taken by governments in the region.