The Independent reports that according to experts who have examined satellite images, a military base in Saudi Arabia appears to be testing and possibly manufacturing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. US analysts told the Associated Press the images offered evidence of the type of weapons programme the Saudi authorities had criticised Iran for possessing. The satellite imagery, taken by US company Planet Labs Inc and analysed by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, revealed a military base near the town of al-Dawadmi, around 145 miles west of the capital, Riyadh. It shows what appear to be structures big enough to build and fuel ballistic missiles. Last year Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said the kingdom would not hesitate to develop nuclear weapons if Iran did.

The BBC reports that the International Paralympic Committee has said Malaysia has been stripped of hosting the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships for refusing to let Israelis compete. Syed Saddiq, Malaysia’s minister of youth and sports, has defended his country’s decision. He told the BBC last week that Malaysia would have “lost our moral conscience and moral compass” if hosting an international sporting event was “more important than safeguarding the interest of our Palestinian brothers and sisters who are being mutilated time after time again”.

The Financial Times reports that Brussels will name Saudi Arabia on a blacklist of countries and jurisdictions that are failing in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, a move that will require European banks to carry out intrusive vetting of customers from the Gulf state. EU officials said the European Commission was in the final stages of adopting the 23-country list, which is likely to be politically contentious and will accuse governments of “strategic deficiencies” in their efforts to combat dirty money.  Also on the list is the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Libya and Panama, although Russia is not listed despite revelations last year of billions in criminal funds being transferred from the country through EU banks. EU officials said Russia was being kept under review. Under EU law, Europe’s banks will have to carry out “enhanced” checks on funds coming from these countries — essentially more intrusive vetting of customers to establish the purpose of payments, the origins of the money, and the true beneficial owners of companies involved. Banks would be required to act on suspicions by steering clear of dubious transactions and passing any concerns on to the authorities.

The Independent reports that an investigation by the Associated Press has revealed that the researchers who reported that Israeli software was used to spy on Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi‘s inner circle before his death are being targeted by international undercover operatives. Twice in the past two months, men masquerading as socially conscious investors have lured members of the Citizen Lab internet watchdog group to meetings at luxury hotels to quiz them for hours about their work exposing Israeli surveillance and the details of their personal lives. In both cases, the researchers believe they were secretly recorded. Citizen Lab director Ron Deibert described the stunts as a new low.

In the Guardian, Simon Tisdall asks whether corruption, cuts and protests in Egypt, Sudan and beyond will produce another Arab Spring. Tisdall concludes that: “In Egypt, as in Sudan and elsewhere, pressure is building. A second explosion cannot be far off.”

Reuters reports that French President Emmanuel Macron, on Sunday, said that human rights in Egypt were perceived as worse now than under former strongman Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by protests in 2011. His comments marked a hardening after he said in 2017 he would not “lecture” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over civil liberties, which activists say are being eroded. “I think current policies are perceived by intellectuals and Egypt’s civil society as tougher than under the Mubarak regime,” Macron told reporters on the sidelines of a trip to Egypt. “I can’t see how you can pretend to ensure long-term stability in this country, which was at the heart of the Arab Spring and showed its taste for freedom, and think you can continue to harden beyond what’s acceptable or justified for security reasons,” Macron added.

The Telegraph reports that former Israeli general, Benny Gantz has allegedly used stolen Palestinian footage for a series of campaign ads in which he boasted of sending parts of Gaza “back to the Stone Age” during the 2014 war. Head of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) during the 2014 conflict, Gantz has now entered politics and is running against Benjamin Netanyahu in April’s elections. The 59-year-old has said little about his political positions so far but released a series of videos burnishing his military credentials. One boasts of killing 1,364 Palestinian terrorists during the war, while another says that under Mr Gantz’s command “parts of Gaza were sent back to the Stone Age.” A third video features drone footage showing the scale of destruction in Gaza after the war. The footage was shot by Media Town, a Palestinian film company based in Gaza, and the group said Mr Gantz’s campaign had stolen the footage and used it without permission. “These stolen images were used to boast about the murder and destruction Gantz committed in Gaza,” said Ashraf Mashharawi, the chief executive of Media Town. “It is inhuman to destroy people’s lives and then say you are proud of it.”

Reporting from Muscat, Oman, Richard Spencer writes in the Times, arguing that: “The fabulous wealth of the Arabian Peninsula cannot conceal the discord within.”

The Times reports that parts of Syria that remained loyal to President Assad through eight years of war are protesting at the shortages that have hit the country despite the regime having reclaimed control of most areas. In an unusual display of licensed complaint, residents have used social media to accuse the authorities of “failing to govern” because of a lack of fuel and electricity. Men have staged mock weddings with cooking gas canisters, saying that they would rather have fuel than a wife, and there have been debates in parliament. The authorities seem to have tolerated the dissent partly as a safety valve and partly to pressurise allies and the West to end sanctions. However, the shortages are being exploited by the Kurdish YPG militia, which is negotiating the terms under which it will accept notional regime control after the planned withdrawal of American troops.

The BBC and Reuters report that at least one person has died and 10 have been injured after an angry crowd stormed a Turkish military camp in Iraq’s Kurdish region. The BBC reports that residents set light to vehicles and buildings in protest against Turkish airstrikes in the area, which are said to have killed several people. Turkey conducts frequent raids against the militant group, the PKK, which is based on the Iraqi side of the border. It accuses insurgents of disguising as civilians to fuel conflict in the area. Local official Najib Saeed said Turkish soldiers had shot at protesters and then left, and that the fires had caused several explosions.

The Financial Times reports that a court has heard that the PM of Qatar demanded a personal fee for investing in Barclays during an emergency capital call in 2008, in addition to the extra commission paid by the bank to the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth funds. Former Barclays senior executives arranging the fundraising as the financial crisis began to bite admitted that it was “dodgy” and “wrong” for a sitting prime minister to take a fee, a jury heard during the third day of a landmark fraud trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court. One of them discussed “the jeopardy that we’re rumbled”. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office alleges that four defendants, including John Varley, the bank’s chief executive at the time, secretly paid £322m to Qatar in return for its investment in two capital calls, which prevented Barclays from needing a UK government bailout.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot reports that on Tuesday Benny Gantz will deliver a speech at the Expo Tel Aviv where he is expected to present his political views for the first time and comment on the possibility of Netanyahu being indicted. Maariv reports that Gantz is the target of a campaign by the New Right that portrays him as “weak left” and aiming to end battles “in a tie” versus Naftali Bennett’s “decisive security outlook.” The New Right released a campaign video yesterday in which it posed the question, “Which Netanyahu-led government would you like—New Right or weak left?” The clip quotes Bennett saying: “Better to be condemned for killing the people flying incendiary balloons than to lose Israeli children,” and quotes Gantz saying, “No (Palestinian) civilians were hurt in the air strike itself, but I put soldiers at risk to verify that.”

In Haaretz, Anshel Pfeffer writes that “In Gantz’s favour, he became Israel’s military chief because he was untainted by scandal and had no real enemies. But it would be hard to argue he had won the coveted lieutenant-general epaulets on merit.” He argues that “To have a real chance of threatening Likud, Hosen L’Yisrael not only has to double the 14 seats it’s currently averaging in polls. It also needs to attract voters not just away from other centrist parties but also away from the coalition parties. Since Netanyahu returned to power in 2009, his bloc of right-wing and religious parties has held onto its small but stable majority in the Knesset. Can Gantz project a tough-enough image and add heavy-hitting candidates to his slate who are sufficiently attractive to the right to peel away 150,000 voters (worth three or four seats) from Likud?”

Discussions about mergers in the ‘centre-left bloc’ continue. Amnon Abramovitch reported on Hahadashot’s main Friday evening program that former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi will only enter politics if Gantz and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid join forces. In related news, Yediot Ahronot reports that figures close to Telem Party Chairman Moshe (Bogie) Yaalon have reported that he and Gantz have made progress in their merger talks. One of the reported reasons for the delay in a final decision is Yaalon’s demand that Gantz’s promise not to join a Netanyahu-led government. Gantz and Yaalon appear to have resolved that issue, now that Gantz has said that he intends to run for prime minister against Netanyahu.

Kan Radio and the Times of Israel report that an Israeli search and rescue team has arrived in Brazil. The teams, which include divers and medical personnel will take part in the search for hundreds of people who are still missing. The army said the search-and-rescue teams would use radar, underwater sonar, cellular detection systems and drones to locate the missing people. Preparations for the trip began on Saturday, following a conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Kan Radio reports that Hamas’s secret Shura Council recently decided to escalate the violence in Gaza gradually until the election in Israel, but not to get dragged into a new war. Palestinian sources said that Hamas believed that it would be easier to pressure Netanyahu and achieve its objectives over the next three months. Hamas reportedly would like to compel Israel to implement the second phase of the truce understandings and promote large projects in the Gaza Strip, including for electricity and water.

The Times of Israel and Maariv report that former Israel Police chief Roni Alsheich said he can’t see a scenario in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not indicted for bribery in the corruption cases against him. Alsheich ended his term last month and oversaw the three police investigations into Netanyahu, which ultimately all led to police recommendations of indictment for bribery and other charges. “In a sense, the police’s credibility is dependent on a Netanyahu conviction. The role of the police is to get to the truth, and to gets answers to the questions as accurately as possible. The more it were to emerge that the facts the police uncovered are incorrect, the harder it is for the police.”

Haaretz reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will follow the United States, Canada and most Latin American and European countries in recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, following a US request. Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro rejected an international ultimatum to call elections within eight days and said Guaido had violated the country’s constitution by declaring himself leader. Israel has not had diplomatic relations with Venezuela for over a decade, since Hugo Chavez broke off diplomatic relations after Israel’s 2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

Kan Radio News reports that security forces have continued to investigate the clashes that took place near Ramallah over the weekend in which Hamdi Naasan from the village of Al-Mughayyir was killed. The police confiscated the weapons of the settlement security team from Shiloh as part of the investigation. The police will check whether the bullet that killed him was fired from one of [the settlers’] guns. The Israel Defence Forces provided the settlement security team with alternative weapons.