The Financial Times has reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has tightened his grip on power ahead of elections. The report states: “Instead of a jamboree of democracy, the vote is widely considered a charade in a polarised nation still traumatised by the chaos and economic upheaval after the 2011 revolution that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. To his supporters, Mr Sisi is the ‘saviour’ who pulled Egypt back from the brink of collapse; to his detractors he presides over the most repressive Egyptian regime in decades.”

BBC News Online, the Telegraph, the Times, Politico Europe, ITV News, and the Daily Mail via AP report that Israel’s military has admitted that it destroyed a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007. It said the air raid in the eastern Deir-al-Zour region had removed “an emerging existential threat to Israel and the entire region”. It said the reactor was close to being completed. It is long been thought Israel was responsible, but it never acknowledged this until now. Syria has repeatedly denied that the bombed site was a nuclear reactor. The admission comes after Israeli military censors lifted an order banning officials from discussing the operation. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said in the past that the site was “very likely” to have been a nuclear reactor. It has also suggested that it was being built with the help of North Korea.

The Financial Times published an article by David Gardner that argues an attack on Hezbollah could trigger an uncontrollable chain reaction which could turn into a new region-wide war. He believes “the backdrop is threatening … [Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia] are moving up a gear in their bellicosity towards Iran”.

Business Insider UK reports that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made a quiet visit to Israel this week to explore the culture and promote future business ventures in the country. Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his private residence in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli business site Globes reported. The two-hour meeting focused on bringing future technologies over to Israel, including energy grids and autonomous vehicles. Netanyahu later discussed the content on his meeting with Musk at a press conference, saying: “I met with Elon Musk this morning. He told me that Israel was a technological power, and that he appreciates what we’re doing here.”

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that reform of Israel’s military court system in the occupied West Bank has failed to stop “systematic violation” of Palestinian minors’ rights, an Israeli NGO said on Tuesday. Human rights group B’Tselem said that the 2009 launch of a designated military juvenile court with the stated aim of “improving the protection of minors’ rights” had failed to deliver. It said that introduction of the juvenile court rather resulted in only “technical changes (which) have not improved the protection of minors´ rights”.

BBC News Online reports Australian billionaire James Packer has resigned as a director of his casino empire Crown Resorts Limited. The businessman is “suffering from mental health issues,” a spokesman for his private investment company said. His resignation comes after a tumultuous period for the billionaire, who was caught up in a scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month. Israel’s Channel 10 reported in December that Packer told investigators he gave the Prime Minister and his wife Sara gifts.

HuffPost UK reports that Israel-based company Algae Apparel has won third place of the H&M’s €1m Global Change Award. The company has made waves with its innovative use of algae as a natural dye, which tackles the problems of water wastage and chemical pollution that come with dyeing clothes.

The Daily Mail reports that President Bashar al-Assad flaunted government advances in Syria’s seven-year war by filming himself driving to meet frontline soldiers near Damascus, making a video of the journey from the city centre into areas recently recaptured. “The road is open … everything is running now in the city and in Syria,” he said in the video, describing a road that had previously been cut by sniper fire and saying it was now easier to travel around the country.

The Times reports that US President Donald Trump boasted that a $110bn arms deal between Saudi Arabia and America testified to the strongest ever relations between the two countries, even as senators were debating how to limit military support for the Kingdom. Trump welcomed Mohammed bin Salman to the White House for their first meeting since he became Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia last summer. Trump praised him as a “great purchaser” of American armaments as the two men finalised the supply of $12.5bn of planes, missiles and frigates to Saudi Arabia as part of last year’s overall arms deal.

The Times reports that the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has announced that he will run for president in Libyan elections this year. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, aged 45, was groomed to be his father’s successor before his capture during the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that ousted the family from power. Saif Gaddafi, the London-educated and Western-friendly face of the former regime, had been held by local militias in the city of Zintan until he was reported to have been released last summer. He has not been seen in public since.

The Israeli media is dominated by Israel’s admission that it bombed the Syrian nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor in 2007. In Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea writes that “one thing is clear, beyond all debate: the bombing of the North Korean reactor in Syria was one of the most successful military operations that Israel has carried out in its 70 years. The operational part — which began with an intelligence question, continued with a heroic [intelligence] gathering operation and ended with a surgical airstrike — ended as planned: the reactor was demolished to the foundations, the project died, and [Bashar] Assad was left with deniability that prevented a regional war.”  He adding that “this was [Olmert’s] finest hour, the peak of a tempestuous political career. The reactor affair not only ruined Olmert and Barak’s ability to continue to work together as prime minister and defence minister, it also ruined the confidence that the top IDF brass had in Barak [who had tried to delay the strike].

Also in Yediot Ahronot, Yossi Yehoshua argues that while “Operation Outside the Box … was indeed an operational and intelligence success … it is also something else: a lesson in humility for the intelligence community [who had initially failed to discover the reactor]”.

In Haaretz, Aluf Benn argues that “the bombing of the nuclear reactor near the Euphrates River reshaped Israel’s defence policy” and “caused a rift among Israel’s leaders, driving a wedge between then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, which led to the fall of the government and accelerated the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu”.

Israel Hayom features the connection between Syria and North Korea in the building of the reactor.

The Times of Israel quotes former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo who refers to the initial intelligence failure: “For years, Syria built a nuclear reactor under our noses, and we did not know about it. It was not built on the dark side of the moon, but in a neighbouring country we always thought we knew almost everything about.”  The Times of Israel also touches on the disagreement between Mossad and the IDF’s Military Intelligence directorate over who should get the credit for discovering the reactor in the first place.

In other news Haaretz reports that the EU has raised 500 m Euros to improve drinking water in Gaza.

Israel Hayom publishes a piece discussing the reactions in Israel and the US from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech on Monday where he referred to US Ambassador to Israel as a son of a dog.

The Jerusalem Post surveys a poll conducted by on 14-17 March by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research. Khalil Shikaki, the director of the centre, said he believes Palestinians are not optimistic about peace with Israel and do not think Israel is a partner for peace. Shikaki said: “The Palestinians don’t trust the other side. They don’t think the Israelis want peace. They don’t think they are partners for peace.”

Haaretz reports that the defence establishment has demanded that organisations that facilitate meetings between Israelis and Palestinians must now provide extensive information in order for the Palestinians to be granted entry permits to Israel.

The Times of Israel reports that the Palestinian Authority may study the possibility of declaring the Gaza Strip a rogue area, solidifying the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A senior Fatah official said that he could not rule out the possibility of declaring the Gaza Strip as a “rebel district” if the crisis between Hamas and Fatah is not resolved in the near future.