BBC News, The Independent, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Financial Times report on the release of three members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a leading human rights group. The three members were arrested last month after the group was accused of having links with a terror group and publishing false news. Following widespread international criticism of the arrests, including from the UN and Western governments, Egyptian authorities released the individuals yesterday evening. On twitter, EIPR called their unexpected release ‘unusual.’

The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Independent report on the increasingly deteriorating conditions in Yemen as five million people face extreme hunger. The UN has warned that the country is on the brink of a famine after a new analysis showed that the degree of ‘catastrophic’ hunger could triple in 6 months. The analysis from Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned that the ‘numbers of people facing the emergency phase of hunger is set to increase from 3.6 million to five million people in the first half of 2021.’ The UN warned that potential US sanctions against individuals or groups that interact with the Houthis could halt US aid activity and have a devastating impact on Yemen.

The Times reports that Iran will ban UN inspectors from visiting its nuclear sites. The decision comes after the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the country’s leading nuclear scientist. Earlier in the week, Iran’s parliament also voted to increase nuclear enrichment to 20 per cent, well above the 3 per cent limit set in the JCPOA nuclear deal.

BBC News and The Guardian report on comments made by Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the Roma Med 2020 conference, in which he said Iran will only come back to full compliance with the JCPOA nuclear deal once the US lifts all sanctions reimposed by the Trump administration. Zarif said the US “has to show its good faith, it has to establish its bona fides, then Iran will go back in full compliance with JCPOA.” He added that Iran would ‘not renegotiate a deal which we negotiated’.

The Telegraph reports that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, is hopeful after Iran’s Foreign Minister indicated that his country is open to further prisoner swaps. Zarif said: “All of them can go back to their families. Iran is ready to reciprocate. We can do it tomorrow, we can even do it today.” Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been detained in Iran since 2016. Her husband said Zarif’s comments “makes clear again that we are all being held hostage until a deal is made.”

The Telegraph and The Independent report that the US is reducing its diplomatic staff in Iraq. An Iraqi official said US staffing at its Baghdad embassy has been reduced amid concerns over attacks from Iran-backed militias. There are growing fears that Iranian-backed forces in Iraq could attack American targets in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency in retaliation for the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. The Iraqi official added that the US staff “could come back… this is not a rupture of diplomatic ties”.

The Economist reports on the various complications of a Biden administration returning to the JCPOA nuclear deal. Despite breaches of the agreement and the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, “in theory, turning the clock back should be simple. Mr Biden says he will re-join the JCPOA if Iran returns to compliance… [but] in practice, things could prove more complicated.”

All the Israeli media cover the travel advice by Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) that urged Israeli citizens to avoid travel to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Kurdish area of Iraq and Africa. The warnings come as Iran is threatening to attack Israeli targets following the assassination of its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, last Friday. The NSC statement said, “In light of the threats heard recently by Iranian officials and in light of the involvement in the past of Iranian officials in terror attacks in various countries, there is a concern that Iran will try to act in this way against Israeli targets.” Kan News further notes, Israeli embassies and missions worldwide went on a heightened state of alert. It is believed that Iran will attempt to retaliate for the assassination before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20, but on a date that will not allow President Trump to take military action.  In addition, Global jihadist organisations have also threatened to attack targets associated with Israel or Jewish communities, including synagogues, kosher restaurants and Jewish museums. Israelis abroad have been called on to exercise greater awareness, to stay away from crowded areas, and to avoid staying in unsecured public places or near government buildings.

All the Israeli media cover political speculation after the Knesset voted in a preliminary reading to disband itself. In an interview on Army Radio Yair Lapid the leader of Yesh Atid-Telem called for Benny Gantz and his Blue and White Party to re-unite for the upcoming election. A poll by Channel 12 News revealed that the reunification would make them the second largest party behind the Likud. Meanwhile there are reports that Lapid’s number two Telem’s Moshe Yaalon is considering quitting their joint faction and forming a new centre party—possibly with the former chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkot.  Lapid was asked about this on Channel 12 News when asked whether he would run with him again, Lapid replied, “I hope so, he is a qualified and excellent person. We are at a stage of getting organised, everyone has polls. There is an understanding that if we want to make a real change, we have to unite everything into one big party in the centre.” In response to the question whether Yaalon was going to abandon him, he replied: “I don’t think this will happen.”

Yediot Ahronot reports that both Benny Gantz and Yamina leader Naftali Bennett are taking steps separately to hold low-cost elections as quickly as possible. Their preferred date is February 2021. They are also calling to reduce the election budget as much as possible and not allocate campaign financing funds this time. Bennett, for example, called to cut 70 percent of the election budget. “With one million people unemployed at home, and business owners collapsing, we should shorten the election period as much as possible… We don’t need expensive campaigns now to waste public funds that we simply don’t have.” Gantz also wants to expedite the elections and has instructed to advance a bill by MK Ram Shefa in order to bring about “brief, economical, transparent and clean elections.” The goal is to restrict campaign financing. According to the paper both Bennett and Gantz, “have political reasons to prefer elections that are as early as possible: Bennett is enjoying a “coronavirus boost,” and taking off in the polls as a person who is currently perceived as the only alternative to Netanyahu, whereas Gantz mainly wants to deny Netanyahu time to prepare for elections. Likud officials say that Netanyahu would prefer elections only in May or June, with the hope that by then vaccines for the virus will arrive.”

Maariv reports the former mayor of Haifa, Yona Yahav, is making preparations for registering a new Jewish-Arab party under his leadership. Yahav said that the party would be called “Shahar—A Party for Everyone” and that it would include an equal number of Jewish and Arab candidates. The paper also quotes Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg, “one of the lessons of the past three rounds of elections for the centre-left bloc should be not to exclude the Arab public.” She said that she was willing to examine various ideas for connections with the Arab public, including from the Joint List, or other Arab politicians in her party.

Maariv also includes its latest poll, but notes a margin of error of 4.3 per cent. If elections were held today, the Likud receives 29 seats, Yamina: 22, Yesh Atid: 18, Joint List: 11, Blue and White: 10, Shas: 9, Yisrael Beiteinu: 8, United Torah Judaism (UTJ): 7, Meretz: 6.  Other smaller parties are all below the electoral threshold with Otzma Yehudit: 0 (1.3 per cent), Labour Party: 0 (1.3 per cent), Derech Eretz: 0 (0.5 per cent), Jewish Home: 0 (0.3 per cent), Gesher: 0 (0.3 per cent). Channel 13 News has a similar poll, with the Likud on 29 seats, Yamina 22, Yesh Atid-Telem 19, Joint List 11, Blue and White 10, Yisrael Beiteinu 8,  UTJ 7, Shas 7, Meretz 7 seats.

All the Israeli media report that Israel will receive coronavirus vaccines for 2 million people in the coming weeks. First priority to be given to front line staff and those in high-risk groups. Israel is expected to receive two shipments of two million doses each, which are expected to arrive either by the end of December or the start of January. Like Britain, Israel’s first batch of doses will be provided by Pfizer.