Discussions are under way on a deal that would allow Palestinians with Israeli citizenship to fly directly to Saudi Arabia to perform the hajj and Umrah religious pilgrimages, according to the Financial Times. The initiative is one of several being discussed ahead of US president Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia next month, all with the aim of helping the former foes inch toward more normal ties.

The Times reveals that The Prince of Wales accepted a suitcase containing €1 million in cash from a controversial Qatari politician. It was one of three handovers of cash, totalling €3 million, which Prince Charles personally received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar who is nicknamed “HBJ”, between 2011 and 2015. On one occasion, Sheikh Hamad, 62, presented the prince with €1 million, which was reportedly stuffed into carrier bags from Fortnum & Mason, the luxury department store that has a royal charter to provide the prince’s groceries and tea.

The Guardian notes that Prince Charles’s charities are no stranger to controversy. Last year, another of Charles’s charities, the Prince’s Foundation, hit the headlines after it was revealed by the Mail on Sunday that Charles’s closest confidante, Michael Fawcett, had offered to help a Saudi billionaire obtain a knighthood and UK citizenship in exchange for generous donations.

The Times reports that a new political party in Turkey, dubbed Turkey’s UKIP, is blaming migrants for the financial crisis, while Syrians and Afghans live in fear. Umit Ozdag is part of a nationalist movement obsessed with the ancient purity of the Turkic people. Now, as the Turkish economy spirals further into crisis and the public mood turns against the millions of migrants and refugees who have settled in the country, he is winning support with a startlingly clear message: send them all back where they came from.

The Telegraph notes that Benjamin Netanyahu is pitching himself as the antidote to Israel’s coalition chaos as he plots return to power. The former premier is eyeing a comeback after a year in which Israeli politics was beset by political infighting and unpopular compromises.

British Muslim travel companies have said they face going out of business, the Guardian reports, with travellers potentially losing thousands of pounds, after Saudi Arabia launched a new system for applying for the hajj pilgrimage.

The Independent reports that a British citizen on hunger strike in an Egyptian jail, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, has been allowed exercise for first time in three years.

In the Israeli media, the opposition and coalition are using a range of procedural tactics to pressure and outmanoeuvre one another ahead of a possible vote today on one or more bills to dissolve the Knesset. Knesset House Committee Chairman MK Nir Orbach, while nominally part of the coalition, has been doing the opposition’s bidding by refusing to expedite the legislative process to maximise the time at the Likud’s disposal to form a new government in the current Knesset. The coalition has taken two countermeasures in response. First, in order to pressure Likud to support dissolving the Knesset, it has tabled a bill that would prevent anyone under indictment on criminal charges – such as Netanyahu – from forming a government. Second, it has taken procedural action to circumvent the House Committee and Orbach.

According to Maariv, senior coalition officials say they plan on taking advantage of the majority they enjoy on the House Committee to turn all 11 bills over to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee to be prepared for further legislation, and then to present them to the Knesset plenum for final approval within 24 hours. Knesset officials said that ahead of today’s sessions it was made clear to MK Orbach that he does not have the authority to stymie the process of dissolving the Knesset because the bills have the support of at least 110 MKs. Given those circumstances, he is obliged to assign the task of preparing the bills for the next readings to one of the relevant committees in order to move forward with the process.

Kan Radio notes that Prime Minister Bennett is considering resigning from the government in the coming days. Bennett said that if he does decide to remain part of the interim government and serve as alternate prime minister, he would only do so in order to help the incoming prime minister, Yair Lapid, on security issues. Meanwhile, Bennett held a three-way meeting yesterday with Yamina colleagues Matan Kahana and Ayelet Shaked. Bennett and Kahana are opposed to entering a narrow right-wing government under Netanyahu. Shaked wants to become Yamina chairwoman if Bennett resigns. Bennett asked her to run a poll to gauge whether or not the party would make it into the Knesset with her leading it.

Yediot Ahronot reports of unrest within the Likud following MK David Amsalem’s remarks yesterday about the possibility of including the United Arab List (UAL / Ra’am) in a future Likud-led coalition. During an interview with Niv Raskin on Channel 12’s Morning News programme, Amsalem said a non-Zionist party could not be part of a Likud-led coalition if that meant the non-Zionist party had the 61st [i.e. deciding] vote in the coalition. He then said, “If Mansour Abbas wants to join after we’ve already got 61, he’s more than welcome. But we can’t rely on him.” Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu criticised Amsalem on Twitter, writing: “I was stunned to hear Dudi Amsalem’s comments, which he made completely of his own volition, as he has done in the past. The Likud under my leadership never agreed and never will agree to invite the UAL into any coalition.”

Israel Hayom follows up on its report from yesterday about differences of opinion within the Israeli security establishment over the JCPOA nuclear deal after the EU foreign policy chief visited Iran over the weekend and announced a return to talks between the US and Iran to re-enter the deal. Mossad Director David Barnea and National Security Council Director Eyal Hulata are opposed to Israel endorsing re-entry into the JCPOA. On the other side of the divide, according to the report, are “high-ranking officers in the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate and the IDF Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate. They believe that renewing the nuclear agreement with Iran will keep it further away from a nuclear bomb since the agreement will strip Iran of the uranium it has already enriched. They argue that in the time until the agreement’s sunset clause goes into effect—partially at the end of 2025 and then finally at the end of the current decade—Israel can act to have the agreement extended and/or to prepare a credible and actionable military option. They believe that Israel can leverage its support for [the US] reentering the JCPOA to receive meaningful military and defence aid from the US.”

According to a report by Channel 12 News, Israeli security and political officials agree that the travel advisory, warning Israelis not to visit Istanbul, should be downgraded to its former level. According to that report, “Other threats to Israelis remain unchanged and other networks are still being monitored, but the threats they pose are no longer deemed to be immediate and, as such, the travel advisory can be downgraded to its former level of three out of four.”

Kan Radio reports that for the first time, a senior UAE military officer will teach a course at the National Security Academy in Israel. The officer, a combat pilot ranking colonel, will teach a course in the coming academic year with the approval of the most senior Emirati officials, including Mohamed bin Zayed. An Israeli military official said that in addition to the symbolic significance, the move represents a new level of cooperation in the region and between the two countries. The National Security Academy trains the senior level of IDF commanders, the security establishment and the government for senior roles.