The BBC and Reuters report that Israel’s military says it has recovered the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since the 1982 war in Lebanon. The BBC reports that the body of Sergeant First Class Zachary Baumel, a US-born tank commander, was flown back to Israel on an El Al plane a few days ago. He was one of three soldiers still listed as missing in action in the battle of Sultan Yakoub. Sgt Baumel’s remains were repatriated via a third country after an operation by Israeli intelligence agencies.

In the Independent, Bel Trew writes: “Marijuana the unlikely star of Israel’s elections as cannabis industry booms”. In a campaigning field inundated with some of the Middle East’s heaviest issues, from the threat of a new war with Gaza and the occupation of the Golan Heights, marijuana has emerged as a hot topic in Israel, says Trew.

In the Guardian, Ronie Kasrils, a leading member of the African National Congress during the apartheid era and former government minister writes: “I fought South African apartheid. I see the same brutal policies in Israel”. Kasrils argues that he was shut down in South Africa for speaking out and is disturbed that the same is now happening to critics of Israel. Every step is important, he writes – pressing institutions and corporations that are complicit in Israel’s crimes and supporting Palestinians in their struggle for liberation. Kasrils concludes that this is not about destroying Israel and its people but about working for a just solution, as we did in South Africa. It is the duty of supporters of justice worldwide, he argues, to mobilise in solidarity with Palestinians to help usher in an era of freedom.

In the Financial Times, Laura Pitel writes: “Imamoglu’s battle to lead Istanbul energises Turkey’s opposition.” She argues that the mayoral contender, Ekrem Imamoglu has shown that the ruling elite can be challenged in the country’s biggest city. Both sides agree that preliminary results from Sunday’s vote give Imamoglu a wafer-thin lead of about 25,000 votes. But Erdogan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) has complained of irregularities and launched a formal challenge, setting the stage for a messy dispute. Yet even if Imamoglu does not win, Pitel stipulates, the self-effacing former district mayor has electrified Turkey’s demoralised opposition. By building political alliances and reaching across the country’s deep divides, analysts say he has shown that the ruling elite can be challenged in a city it has controlled for 25 years.

The Times reports that the Iranian government faces mounting public criticism over its handling of the worst flooding in the four decades since the Islamic Revolution. Scores of people have died and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in two weeks of heavy rainfall as Iran celebrated the Persian new year. A State of emergency has been declared in 26 of Iran’s 31 provinces after rivers burst their banks and dams overflowed. Floods have damaged creaking infrastructure, washing away roads, bridges and airfields. The authorities were caught off guard, facing a “Hurricane Katrina moment” like the US disaster in 2005 that defined President George W. Bush’s final years in office.

The Guardian reports that new satellite images show Saudi Arabia is within months of completing its first nuclear reactor, but it has yet to show any readiness to abide by safeguards that would prevent it making a bomb. The reactor site is in the King Abdulaziz City for science and technology on the outskirts of Riyadh. The site was identified by Robert Kelley, a former director for nuclear inspections at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who said it was very small 30-kilowatt research reactor, not far from completion. “I would guess they could have it all done, with the roof in place and the electricity turned on, within a year,” said Kelley, who worked for more than three decades in research and engineering in the US nuclear weapons complex. The satellite photos show that a 10-metre high steel tubular vessel, which will contain the nuclear fuel, has been erected, and construction work is under way on the surrounding concrete building.

The Guardian reports that a former US State Department adviser to five previous American presidents says Donald Trump’s narcissistic unilateralism is doing Vladimir Putin’s work for him by widening the fissure between the US and Europe over climate change, Iran, Brexit and Nato. The former adviser, William Burns, said on Wednesday that the corrosive damage to the transatlantic relationships might never be repaired, and described Trump being uninterested in those alliances, at a time when China was “rising’” and Russia “resurging,” as criminal. He played a key role in secretly negotiating the Iran nuclear deal finally signed in 2015, and has expressed concern that Washington is reaching for militaristic solutions in Iran as it did with Iraq. He has described as very short-sighted America’s use of secondary sanctions to prevent Europeans trading with Iran, pointing to warnings by Germany and France that they must respond by building European economic sovereignty independently of the US. “It may not happen overnight in five years’ time, it may not happen in 10 years’ time, [but] a lot of countries, including our allies, will have taken steps to reduce their vulnerability to the US financial system.” The Iranian leadership, he assessed, was “trying to wait out this administration”. He said: “They think cold-bloodedly, after years of trying to isolate Iran, we have managed to isolate ourselves by pulling out of the deal.”

The Telegraph, Times, Guardian and Independent report on mass protests against Algeria’s caretaker government following the resignation of the country’s 82-year-old President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The Telegraph reports that crowds celebrated in the streets of Algiers at the news that Bouteflika had resigned after two decades in office and handed power to a caretaker government. Yet, protesters said that the fall of Bouteflika, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, would not satisfy their demands for wholesale democratic reform in the North African country. The Times reports that leaders of the protest movement that forced the resignation of Algeria’s octogenarian President have pledged to continue their drive for freedom, democracy and the overthrow of the country’s oil-rich oligarchs. With demonstrations set to continue despite the departure of Bouteflika, the country remains on course for a historic showdown between its corrupt and ageing elite and younger generations desperate for change.

The Israeli media all report on the return to Israel of Zachary Baumel, an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldier who was killed in the Battle of Sultan Yakoub in the First Lebanon War in 1982.

Kan Radio reports that Baumel will be buried in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem at 19:00. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Baumel’s brother and sister last night. Maariv reports that security and intelligence officials worked tirelessly for 37 years to locate the bodies of the three missing soldiers from the Battle of Sultan Yakoub. The task was assigned to the Mossad, IDF Intelligence and the Shin Bet. World leaders and even foreign and Israeli journalists were asked to try and obtain information during the search. The 1994 Oslo Accords made it possible for Israel to get help from Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which did provide some information. There was no stone that was left unturned and millions of dollars were spent on searches, but to no avail. We can assume that a major turning point was when the civil war in Syria began. Bashar Assad and the regime’s loss of control over wide swaths of the country, which were controlled by rebel organisations, gave Israeli intelligence new opportunities. According to foreign sources, some of these organisations, whom Israeli intelligence helped with humanitarian assistance, were also mobilised for the task. As a result, about a year ago the Mossad was able to obtain the watch belonging to Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy who was hung in Damascus in 1965.

Tal Lev Ram in Maariv believes that the return of Baumel’s body is a major and emotional historic event. “Before all else, it illustrates the State of Israel’s commitment to do everything possible and to invest every possible intelligence and operational resource to bring our boys back home. It is also an expression of the operational and intelligence capabilities of Israel’s espionage services.”

In Yediot Ahronoth Chen Artzi Sror writes that Zachary Baumel’s burial in Israel is poignant. The faded black and white picture of someone who fell before I was born is engraved in my memory and my heart because it is part of what Israeli solidarity means: fostering an ethos of heroism and sacrifice, but also of closeness and responsibility.

Amos Harel in Haaretz writes that: “This achievement is testimony to the extraordinary commitment Israeli society shows toward its fighters and fallen soldiers, in an era in which other aspects of social solidarity have eroded.” Harel adds that: “On the sidelines, this political achievement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will certainly also be expressed at the electoral level. It seems as though the return of Baumel’s remains is proof of his strong personal ties with foreign leaders.”

Kan Radio reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is travelling to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Netanyahu told reporters at the airport that he would speak with the Russian President about current events in Syria, the ongoing special coordination between the IDF and the Russian military and other topics. Writing in Maariv, Yossi Melman argues that: “With Russian President Vladimir Putin, there are no free lunches. If it was indeed the Russians that helped bring the late Zachary Baumel to Israel, sooner or later they will collect on the debt for the help that their espionage services and army extended to Israel to help locate him. That is, if Israel hasn’t already paid.”

Haaretz reports on a poll that predicts the right-wing bloc will win 67 seats in next week’s election. Likud are predicted to win 30 seats, Blue and White 27 seats, Labour 10 seats, the Union of Right Wing Parties and Hadash-Ta’al seven seats, United Torah Judaism six seats, whilst Kulanu, Shas, the New Right, Meretz and Zehut are all predicted to receive five seats. Yisrael Beiteinu and United Arab List-Balad are predicted to win four seats. However, the paper stresses that: “The 21st Knesset portrait won’t correspond with the poll for several reasons. Some 16 seats define themselves as undecided; Certain parties might not manage to hurdle the four-seat threshold, which would tip the inter-bloc power balance. Past experience proves the last week, particularly the last three days including Election Day, events and processes could change opinion and voting patterns.”

Discussing the poll, Chemi Shalev in Haaretz argues that: “While the elation of right-wing zealots such as Moshe Feiglin and Betzalel Smotrich will be genuine and long-lasting, once the party’s over and after the champagne is gone, Netanyahu is going to wake up, with a nasty hangover, to a dark and ominous new day … the conventional wisdom and the logic of his own behavior indicate that Netanyahu’s supreme and only objective is to set yet another narrow right-wing government. The problem is that Netanyahu’s potential partners will smell his desperation from mile away and won’t resist the temptation to exploit his willingness to pay almost any price in order to save his own soul.” Shalev believes that: “Netanyahu will find himself caught between a rock and a hard place, between a US president he dare not defy and a settler-dominated coalition that won’t allow him to even pretend that he isn’t. Under these circumstances, the option of joining forces with Benny Gantz will be put on the table, whether Netanyahu wants to or not.”

Kan Radio reports that a Palestinian was killed and another sustained light injuries from gunfire when IDF troops shot at three suspects who had crossed the border in the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office said the Palestinians were armed with knives.