The BBC follows yesterday’s comments by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett who urged world powers to immediately end nuclear talks with Iran, after it decided to start using advanced machines to enrich uranium at an underground plant. Bennett told the US that Iran was “carrying out ‘nuclear blackmail’ as a negotiation tactic”.
 
The Financial Times’ editorial board publishes an op-ed arguing that Iran is playing a dangerous game in nuclear talks in Vienna, whilst the US must display flexibility for the 2015 JCPOA deal to be revived.
 
The Times and Financial Times report that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the former Libyan leader, has been reinstated as a candidate in the presidential election, setting up a dramatic contest in the first round this month. The ruling, by a court in the southern city of Sebha, followed a week of uncertainty and a military stand-off.
 
Dozens of human rights organisations have called on the EU to impose global sanctions on NSO Group and take “every action” to prohibit the sale, transfer, export and import of the Israeli company’s surveillance technology, says the Guardian.
 
Reuters writes that Democratic and Republican senators have announced new legislation that would impose sanctions over an alleged plot by Iranian intelligence agents to kidnap Iranian-born US journalist Masih Alinejad. The legislation would seek to hold Iran accountable for the plot and prevent any further attempted kidnappings on US soil by imposing mandatory sanctions on those involved and authorising secondary sanctions on banks doing business with them.
 
The Independent reports that Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton is being urged to highlight Saudi human rights abuses at country’s first Grand Prix. In an exclusive, ‘Prisoners of conscience’ in Saudi Arabia are being tortured and sexually assaulted, say relatives.
 
In the Israeli media, Kan Radio reports that the government has decided to fine travellers returning to Israel from overseas who do not do a PCR test three to seven days after arrival. The fine of NIS 2,500 (£595) is scheduled to take effect within a few weeks. It was decided further that the Education Ministry and the Health Ministry will run a special programme to inoculate children in cooperation with the local authorities. Meanwhile, the tracking system that the Shin Bet operated to locate confirmed carriers of the Omicron variant ended last night. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz decided not to extend use of the system in wake of the public criticism. The use of tracking measures will be reconsidered if the circumstances about the rate of infection change.
 
Yediot Ahronot publishes an opinion piece by Sima Kadmon, who argues that Prime Minister Bennett “knew he would face criticism for his wife and four children’s trip overseas, [but] he probably did not expect how harsh it would be”. She adds: “Bennett recently received a poll conducted by Galei Yisrael showing that there has been a steady rise in public support and satisfaction with his performance as prime minister and a steady drop in opposition to him. Bennett knows how fragile the support that he has achieved in six months of laborious and precise work is.”
 
Haaretz reports that the Shin Bet has decided to assign Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana a bodyguard after receiving information that a radical religious group had threatened his life. The report said that it was because of the reforms he is promoting in kashrut certification and conversion, his support for the Western Wall arrangement and Yamina’s role in the establishment of the government. Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Justice Minister Gideon Saar have also been assigned bodyguards since coming into office.
 
Elior Levy writes in Yediot Ahronot that Hamas has secretly been building a branch of its military wing to create another front against Israel in the event of a military clash in Gaza. “The baptism by fire of the new branch took place during Operation Guardian of the Walls, when members of the Lebanese branch fired rockets at northern Israel. In the first stage, it was decided to build a military force with the goal of harassing Israel by means of rocket fire from Lebanon and thereby create another front. Hamas realised this would not be a tiebreaker, only a means to divide Israel’s attention during a clash in Gaza. Palestinians who identify ideologically with Hamas who live in Lebanon were recruited, mainly in the Tyre area. Their number is estimated to be a few hundred, and they operate in secrecy, under cover of being civilians.”