The Independent, the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Telegraph, the Guardian, the Times, the Financial Times and the Daily Mail via AP report on the continuing corruption allegations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Wednesday, Netanyahu continued with his schedule as normal. Speaking at a local government meeting in Tel Aviv, he shrugged off the allegations, saying that “the truth will come to light and nothing will come of this. After I read the recommendations report, I can say that this is a biased, extreme document full of holes, like Swiss cheese, and doesn’t hold water.” Netanyahu said his government was not going to collapse over the police recommendations. “I want to reassure you, the coalition is stable. No one, not I, not anyone else, has plans to go to an election,” he said. His confidence came after two coalition leaders, Moshe Kahlon, the head of Kulanu, and Naftali Bennet, leader of Jewish Home, both said they would wait for the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit’s decision. Bennet said the Prime Minister was “not living up to” the standard of a national leader by accepting lavish gifts from millionaires, but that he would nonetheless keep his party inside the coalition.  He said: “We are a state of law, and Prime Minister Netanyahu is still presumed innocent. Therefore, I have decided to wait until the decision of the attorney general.”

The Guardian published an article by Peter Beaumont arguing that “Netanyahu’s shamelessness is corrupting Israel”. He says that: “the real stench [of corruption] comes from how he has corrupted Israel’s imperfect democracy with his politics of shamelessness.”

The Independent reports that a total of 54 Palestinians died last year waiting for Israeli visas to allow them to leave Gaza for medical treatment, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. Only 54 per cent of 25,000 applications for travel permits were granted in time for patients to attend scheduled appointments, research from the WHO released on Tuesday found, down from 62 per cent the year before and 92 per cent in 2012.

The NME reports that a politician from Florida is calling for Lorde’s performances in Florida to be cancelled. A 2016 law prohibits the state from doing business that exceeds $1 million with any organisations or parties that boycott Israel. State Representative Randy Fine is asking venues across Miami and Tampa to call off the scheduled performances from Lorde in April. In a statement released over Facebook, Randy Fine said: “Florida has no tolerance for antisemitism and boycotts intended to destroy the State of Israel. When Lorde joined the boycott in December, she and her companies became subject to that statute.”

The Sun reports that the site where christians believe Jesus was baptised is to be cleared of landmines – and could be opened to the public for the first time in 50 years. The area known as Qasr al-Yahud is located 10 kilometres east of Jericho near the Jordan River in the Palestinian Territories. It has seven churches along with chapels and monasteries that were constructed in the 1930’s during the period of the British mandate. Access to the popular pilgrimage spot was blocked by Israel in 1968 but a road through the minefield to the river opened in 2011 which allowed pilgrimages to resume.

The Guardian and the Daily Mail report that a former Melbourne school principal facing child sex abuse charges will undergo a new psychiatric examination after Israeli police accused her of faking mental illness to avoid extradition to Australia. The Jerusalem district court ruled Malka Leifer, whose former students allege dozens of abuse claims at a Jewish ultra-Orthodox girls school, would remain in custody while it determines if she can be tried. Leifer, has denied the charges in previous hearings and was admitted to hospital in 2016 after being declared unfit to stand trial. She appeared in restraints on Wednesday, hiding her face. However, Israeli police said on Monday that an undercover investigation had found “indications that the suspect was pretending to be suffering from a mental illness to avoid the extradition process”. She was rearrested on suspicion of “obstruction of justice”. Since 2013, Australia has been attempting to extradite the woman, who lives in a settlement in the West Bank. Her lawyers claim she suffers panic attacks that make her so unwell she cannot face trial. Leifer stood down from her position in 2008 and left Australia for Israel. The Jewish school that hired the head teacher was ordered in 2015 to pay more than A$1.1m in compensatory damages.

The Independent reports that staff from Israel’s embassy to France will not attend the opening ceremony of a film festival in Paris, despite the fact the event is partially funded by the Israeli government, over the screening of the controversial Israeli-made film, Foxtrot. The film was nominated as Israel’s entry for this year’s foreign-language Oscar and won the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2017. It is due to be screened on the opening night of the Israeli film festival in Paris on 13 March – but Israel’s embassy staff will not be attending because organisers ignored a request to show a “more suitable” film at an event which will include an audience of foreign donors.

The Times Higher Education Supplement reports that Israel’s parliament has approved legislation that will bring higher education institutions in the West Bank settlements under Israeli law. The bill, which will bring Ariel University in Samaria and other colleges under the auspices of Israel’s Council for Higher Education, passed all three rounds of voting in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. It was passed with 56 in favour of the law and 36 against. It will end the role of the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria. Scholars had warned that campaigns for an academic boycott of the country were likely to be ramped up if the law was implemented. There were also concerns that the legislation would result in a reduction in overseas funding.

All the Israeli media continue to concentrate on the fallout following the police recommendations to indict Prime Minister Netanyahu on corruption allegations.  Maariv and Yediot Ahronot focus on the war of words between the Prime Minister and his chief political critic and challenger Yair Lapid MK, the leader of Yesh Atid.  Yediot Ahronot leads with quotes from head of Jewish Home and coalition partner Naftali Bennett saying, “the country’s leaders should not be taking gifts from a millionaire.” Haaretz notes despite the rhetoric, the government will remain in place for now, as both senior coalition partners,  Ministers Kahlon and Bennett will wait for the ruling of the attorney general that could take months.

Maariv covers two polls that found that the majority of the public believes that the prime minister should resign from office. A poll by the Midgam Institute that was conducted for Channel Two found that 48 per cent of the public believe that Netanyahu should resign, 36% believe that he does not have to resign and about 16% had no opinion. Among respondents who voted for the Likud, 68 per cent said that Netanyahu did not have to resign. A second poll found similar numbers, with 50% of the public saying that the Prime Minister should either resign or declare himself incapacitated.

Maariv and Israel Hayom also include polling that reveals voting intention, the Likud led by Netanyahu is still the largest party with 26 seats, an increase of one seat since the last poll. Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid received 22 and the Zionist Union led by Avi Gabbay received just 15 seats. The Joint List received 12 and the Jewish Home received 11. They were followed by Kulanu (9), Meretz (7) and United Torah Judaism (7), Yisrael Beiteinu (6), and Shas (5). Overal, right wing parties were predicted 52 seats, the centre-left predicted 44, the Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties were both predicted 12.   A Channel Ten poll has similar numbers with the Likud leading with 27 seats, Yesh Atid  25 seats while the Zionist Union led by Avi Gabbay r16 seats. The Jewish Home were predicted to be on 11 seats, as were the Joint Arab List. They were followed by Meretz and United Torah Judaism (7), Yisrael Beiteinu (6), and Kulanu and Shas (5).

Israel Radio reports that Israel and Lebanon have been holding talks brokered by the United States for several months in an attempt to resolve the tense dispute involving their maritime border. Secretary of State Tillerson will visit Beirut today and the matter may arise in his meetings there. Senior officials in Jerusalem said that there is a mutual desire to resolve the issue.

Yediot Ahronot reports on three instances in the last two days of Palestinians attempting to smuggle pipe bombs into a military court in Salem in the northern West Bank.   All the attempts, similar to other efforts in the past few months, have been prevented by border police officers at the entrance to the building.

Maariv follows the trial of Ahed Tamimi and quotes her father’s response to the decision to refuse access to the media, according to Bassem Tamimi, “the military court is running like a show, we want a public trial.  The military court insists on bending the law in order to punish the Palestinians.”