The Independent looks forward to Israeli President Herzog’s speech to the US Congress today, in which he will laud the “unbreakable bond” between the two countries.

The Daily Express reports pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow Israel’s lead in recognising Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Israel made the diplomatic move this week, and a Conservative MP told the paper: “Really this is exactly where we should be looking at our Brexit freedoms and reframing our foreign policy.” Meanwhile, Tory peer Baron Polak, the Conservative Friends of Israel honorary president, said: “It is a good thing that Israel has recognised Moroccan sovereignty in the Sahara region.”

The Independent covers Republican US Presidential candidates including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning for the Christian Zionist vote at this year’s annual Christians United for Israel summit in suburban Washington.

The Daily Mail reports Israeli archaeologists Eitan Klein (from the Israel Antiquities Authority) and Boaz Zissu’s (from Bar-Ilan University) announcement this week of discoveries at Te’omim Cave – located east of the city Beit Shemesh, southwest of Jerusalem – suggesting that the site was regarded as a ‘portal to the underworld’ some 2,000 years ago.

On a similar theme, The Metro reports on a collection of Israeli antiquities loaned the US for a Chanukah candle lighting ceremony in 2019 being “stuck” in the US, seemingly at the Mar-a-Lago home of former president Donald Trump. Eli Eskozido, the current director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, is trying to retrieve the artefacts, but efforts coordinated with the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry have so far been unsuccessful.”

All the Israeli media cover yesterday’s protests against the judicial reforms, with tens of thousands of Israelis once more demonstrating in locations across Israel. Kan News reports at least 53 arrests being made. Protesters blocked the Ayalon Highway and Namir Road in Tel Aviv several times, while police dispersed the protesters using water cannons and mounted officers and used water cannons on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv. In Jerusalem thousands of protesters marched from the Knesset to the Rehavia neighbourhood, while large protests were also held in Haifa and Beer Sheva. The Israel Medical Association will today hold a two-hour warning strike, with hospitals working on a Sabbath footing.

Kan Radio reports that voting in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the over 27,000 objections raised over the bill ran all night. The vote is expected to conclude by 11.00am Israeli time today before the bill is then returned to the Knesset for a second and third reading, with a vote in the plenum expected early next week.

Channel 12 News reports that despite the progress of the bill through the committee, efforts are still underway to soften the text unilaterally.  The channel reports ongoing efforts led by Minister Dermer and the Cabinet Secretary with representatives of the President’s forum to find the right language that dilutes the reform that could quell the protests. However, with the government adamant in passing legislation before the end of the month, it’s unclear whether there is time to make the changes.

Yediot Ahronot covers a highly significant development on the wide-ranging military opposition to the government’s judicial reforms, as 161 officers and other senior personnel who serve in Israeli Air Force (IAF) staff operational capacities wrote to IAF Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar announcing the immediate suspension of their reserve service. The letter stated that the reforms “will dramatically change the country’s essence and image, and it will turn it from a democracy into a dictatorship. We hereby say that we are not prepared to carry out the tasks assigned to us under a regime in which the foundations of democracy are brazenly trampled underfoot one after the other, and the opening through which the country is marched towards a full dictatorship is widened. Therefore, with a heavy heart, we hereby announce an immediate end of our volunteering for reserve service.” A high-ranking reserve officer told the paper that the reservists in question were “irreplaceable. Their absence from reserves is likely to significantly lower the number of operations that the IAF can execute.”

Yediot Ahronot columnist Yossi Yehoshua writes that “more and more reservists are planning to announce they will no longer volunteer for reserve duty. Their WhatsApp groups are roiling. They are well aware of the sensitive security situation, especially the dangers on the northern border. Similarly, there is a clearly visible correlation: The further away people serve from operational activities, the more they are prepared to heed the call to opt out. Flight instructors and members of the operations staff, for instance, are more inclined to take sharper steps than those who are members of active flight squadrons. The real problem is the fog of war: it is hard to estimate who is prepared to go all the way and who will ultimately choose to make do with making a statement.” Maariv’s Tal Lev Ram, meanwhile, reports that since publication of the letter then number of reservists involved has risen “much higher” than the initial 161.

Relatedly, Channel 12 News quotes IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi telling a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee that: “The security challenges require us to be highly prepared, it’s imperative to maintain our readiness and cohesion. Those who call for non-mobilisation harm the IDF and the security of the country.”

Yediot Ahronot’s Sima Kadmon calls on the IDF chief of staff, the police commissioner, the GSS director and the Mossad director to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu that he has to stop the current legislation. Kadmon writes: “Netanyahu will understand. He will understand both the text and the subtext. Deep down inside he knows it will be impossible to get by without some of the flight squadrons—and that there will always be a government. Perhaps subconsciously he is even waiting for this. For someone to rescue him from the tangled situation in which he finds himself.”

In other news, Ynet reports an Israeli air strike near the Syrian capital Damascus injuring two Syrian officers and causing material damage. The UK-based Observatory for Human Rights said that the strike was directed at military installations and weapons depots belonging to Hezbollah, and that fire broke out after the missiles hit. Tensions have been high between Israel and Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border, while earlier this month another airstrike attributed to Israel hit Iranian targets in Damascus.