Hosni Mubarak realises he must step down and is looking for an honourable way out, a former Israeli defence minister has said.

Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, a frequent critic of Israel’s peace moves with the Palestinians, submitted his resignation today in protest over the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

ISRAEL said yesterday that France had the dubious distinction of being the country with the highest number of anti-semitic incidents in the world last year.