The Financial Times, The BBC,The Times and The Guardian report on our main story, that Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that Aryeh Deri, a key coalition partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, cannot serve as a minister because of a recent conviction for tax fraud.

The Telegraph reports that the United States is using a secret ammunition stockpile in Israel intended for regional conflicts to provide Ukraine with thousands of artillery shells, according to the New York Times. The arrangement has reportedly seen around 300,000 shells transferred to Kyiv to stop them from running out of ammo. It has been in place for some time and was approved by the previous Israeli government led by Yair Lapid. The disclosure reflects how Israel, which generally has tried to stay neutral in the war for fear of angering Russia, may be assisting Ukraine indirectly and behind the scenes by other means.

The Telegraph reviews Netflix’s Fauda, saying “Fauda – Arabic for ‘chaos’ – has been praised for its even-handed portrayal of the conflict between Mossad and the Israel Defence Forces, on one side, and Hamas and Hezbollah on the other. The world it depicts is drawn in endless shades of grey. Here is a moral Neverland where everyone is compromised and good and evil left to wither in the Middle Eastern sun”.

The Guardian reports that following a storm of protest, Harvard’s Kennedy School has reversed its decision to deny a fellowship to the former head of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Kenneth Roth, over criticisms of Israel.

The Guardian also publishes a piece saying: “One of the world’s oldest Zionist organisations with close ties to the Israeli government, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), is using American anti-terrorism laws to sue a major Palestinian rights group in the US over its support for the international boycott movement”.

There is wide Israeli media coverage of the visit of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to Israel and the Palestinian territories. In his meeting with Netanyahu, Sullivan stressed that the Biden administration’s “commitment to the state of Israel is bone deep,” and “rooted in shared history, shared interests and shared values.” A US official also disclosed that Sullivan raised the issue of the government’s controversial judicial reforms and urged Netanyahu to show restraint towards the Palestinians and consider lifting some sanctions on the Palestinian Authority. In Sullivan’s meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President told him that the US must seek to halt Israeli “escalation” before “it is too late.” A White House communique stated that in his meetings Sullivan “stressed that the administration will continue to support the two-state solution and will discourage policies that endanger its viability. Mr. Sullivan underscored the urgency of avoiding unilateral steps by any party that could inflame tensions on the ground, with special attention to maintaining the historic status quo with respect to the holy places in Jerusalem.”

 Israel Hayom adds that Sullivan met Thursday with senior Israeli security officials, including the head of the Mossad. He and Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi held virtual discussions with their Bahraini and Emirati counterparts about how to deepen cooperation in “clean energy, emerging technology, regional security, and commercial relations,” the White House said. Israel normalised ties with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in US-backed agreements in 2020.

Kan Radio reports that Israeli officials believe that the collapse of talks on the Iran nuclear deal has made the Biden Administration more eager than before to actively pursue the expansion of the Abraham Accords. This theme was discussed during Sullivan’s meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Hanegbi, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.

However, Kan Radio also reports being told by Saudi officials that any public or formal accord including the Kingdom is dependent on Israel making concessions to the Palestinians. While previous reports had suggested that the Saudis were open to an accord without any change of approach on the Palestinians, Kan Radio cites the officials as saying that “Saudi Arabia is highly attentive to public opinion at home and in the Arab and Islamic worlds, saying that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be seen as a traitor who sold out Jerusalem if the kingdom normalizes its ties with Israel and ignores the Palestinian issue. The Saudi officials said that so long as Israel is not inclined to make concessions, we prefer to work with it under the table.”

Israel Hayom  details the arrests of two sons of a high-ranking member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in a Jenin refugee camp on Thursday. Khaled Abu Zina had been the target of the raid but when troops found him not home they arrested his two sons – Awas and Hani. One IDF solider was injured in resultant clashes in the camp, and two Palestinians killed. They were later named as 28-year-old Adham Jabareen, a commander in the PIJ’s local wing, and 38-year-old Jawad Bawaqta, a teacher.

Ynet reports that Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan has challenged the Palestinians at a UN meeting for their campaigning for the referral of Israel to the ICJ and for drafting “poisonous and destructive resolutions… with the sole purpose of destroying Israel as a Jewish state”. The always contentious monthly UN Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was more vitriolic and threatening this week, and UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland warned that “a dangerous cycle of violence persists on the ground, amidst increased political tension and a stalled peace process.”

In his column in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea assesses the anti-government protest movement’s efforts to enlist wider Israeli society in support of its cause. “The leaders of the protest groups”, he writes, “believe that they have reached circles that did not take part in the Balfour Street protest: the community of lawyers, the community of high-tech companies, doctors, university students, the older high school grades, Jewish communities around the world.” Barnea anticipates that the movement will soon progress beyond protests and look to institute strikes. He suggests that in previous meetings designed to elicit support for this, the protest leaders have received a cool response from Israeli business leaders. “The steps taken by the new government have somewhat changed the picture. Thirty senior high-tech executives attended a meeting with the protest leaders. They spoke with concern about talented young people who are looking into jobs overseas, about foreign investors’ aversion, about early signs of capital flight. International companies do not invest in Hungary, Poland and Turkey, they said. It could well be that the shareholders in America now have an interest in shutting down the business.” Barnea also discusses the attitude of the Histadrut, Israel’s largest labour union. While the government’s judicial reforms had not been enough to convince it to acquiesce to the protesters requests to initiate industrial action, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s plans to restrict the rights of Israeli workers to strike might change this.