The Israeli State Comptroller is investigating the sharp rise in the taxpayer-funded expenses of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family.

The investigation was prompted by the emergence of new details on the costs of maintaining the Prime Minister’s family.

The Israeli Public Security Ministry has announced new regulations to limit the number of guns in the country.

Foreign Secretary William Hague is due to visit Israel this week during a short tour of the Middle East.

He is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on the peace process.

The trip has been planned for some time and is being made in an effort to support US Secretary of State John Kerry's work to encourage Israelis and Palestinians to return to negotiations.

If Nitzan Horowitz wins Tel Aviv’s municipal election in October, the city will be able to mark a double first.

The 2013 state budget belatedly brought to the Knesset by Finance Minister Yair Lapid included, as expected, deep cuts in social spending and a tax rise.

According to Treasury officials, both are needed to shrink a deficit of NIS 34 billion (£6bn), but the most eye-catching details so far have been the cuts in funding for Charedi education.

Even for Jerusalem, where Jew-against-Jew tensions often get bitter, this attack is harsh. On unsigned posters across the city’s religious neighbourhoods, posters draw a parallel between one of Israel’s political parties and the ancient enemy of the Jews, Amalek.