The media summary for Wednesday 17 June can be found here.

The Telegraph reports on the anguish in Israel’s Druze community over the plight of Syria’s Druze population, which appears to be under increasing threat from Islamist extremists fighting in the country’s civil war. The report says that there is no consensus on the Syrian conflict among Israeli Druze, but recent public demonstrations have shown a deep common concern for their brethren in Syria, especially as there are many family ties. It has been reported that Israel is discussing with other countries the possibility of establishing a “safe zone” for Druze on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. Many Israeli Druze serve in the IDF and there are several Druze members of the Knesset.

The Independent online says that the head of the Israel Medical Association (IMA) has opposed a draft bill, which would mandate that prisoners in Israel on hunger strike be force-fed. The IMA head says that the proposed legislation, which is spearheaded by Likud’s Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan, would be medically unethical.

The print edition of the Independent reports that Israeli military vehicles last week uprooted around one thousand trees planted by Palestinians in the West Bank. The Israeli authorities say that the trees were illegally planted on land which is owned by the state and had issued warnings. However, Palestinians say that the land belongs to them and is illegally occupied by Israel.

The Guardian includes a feature on a group of Palestinian women, known as the “Speed Sisters,” who are the world’s first all-female car racing team. From a variety of backgrounds, they transform regular cars into racing cars and compete on makeshift tracks in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

The Independent i says that Egypt’s President Sisi has extended the three-day opening of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip by a further two days. It is the first time in three months that the crossing has been opened at all, as Egyptian authorities say that Hamas is helping Islamist terror groups in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula attack Egyptian security forces. Meanwhile, the Times online says that rights groups claim at least 163 protestors opposed to Sisi have disappeared from Egypt’s streets.

In Syria, the Financial Times online reports that Kurdish-led forces, with the aid of US-led air strikes, have captured from ISIS the outpost of Tel Abyad on the Turkish border, effectively blocking the ISIS supply route from Turkey.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot leads with an exclusive report claiming that US President Barack Obama has invited Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in July. The article suggests that the timing indicates American confidence that a nuclear deal will soon be concluded with Iran and that Netanyahu’s visit could precede Congressional approval of such an agreement.

Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz all cover the ongoing war of words between Culture Minister Miri Regev and a group of artists over the her ministry’s budget. Regev has insisted that she will decide on allocations and that her ministry is not obliged to fund projects which she believes denigrate the State of Israel. Some artists have publicly accused her of stifling free expression. They include actor Oded Kotler, who both Maariv and Haaretz report apologised yesterday for comments he made in which he appeared to describe Likud voters as “beasts.”

Meanwhile, Israel Hayom, Haaretz and Israel Radio news all report that the IDF will within two years create a new branch dedicated to cyber warfare, overseeing threats to data and communications. Writing in Israel Hayom, Yoav Limor describes the creation of such a unit as a “revolution” in military terms.