The Telegraph and Metro both note the visit to Israel of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which included a joint cabinet session in Jerusalem. Merkel and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed regional issues including peace talks with the Palestinian Authority and Iran’s nuclear development.

The Times reports that the Knesset passed a law recognising Israel’s Christian Arab minority as a distinct separate group from Israel’s Muslim Arab minority. In practice, the law’s impact is limited to adding a Christian representative to the country’s advisory committee for equal employment opportunity. While the bill has the support of some Israeli Christian Arabs, the article notes others say it creates divisions within Israel’s Arab sector.

The Guardian online reports Islamist opposition politicians in Jordan have called for the country’s peace treaty with Israel to be frozen. This is after the Knesset debated an initiative from Likud MK Moshe Feiglin calling on the government to establish Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, holy to both Jews and Muslims. At present, the site which includes the al-Aqsa Mosque is under the control of Muslim religious authorities, with Jews barred from praying there. No vote was taken on the initiative, which is thought to be strongly opposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu and apparently has little parliamentary support.

The Evening Standard reports quotes from a magazine interview in which the Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson said she does not see herself as a role model over her decision to step down as an Oxfam ambassador. Johansson took the decision after defending her appearance in an advert for SodaStream, which maintains a factory in the West Bank, explaining that the factory provides equal employment for Palestinians and Israelis alike. In the interview, Johansson explained she took such action as she didn’t want her image to be manipulated.

The online editions of the Guardian and Financial Times both report that charismatic former Housing Minister Ibrahim Mahleb has been appointed Prime Minister in Egypt, following the resignation of Hazem el-Beblawi and his cabinet earlier this week. Mahleb, a former member of Hosni Mubarak’s party pledged yesterday to “crush terrorism.”

The Times says US President Obama considered using cyber warfare against the Assad regime in Syria, but feared retaliation against important American systems. In Syria itself, the Telegraph online reports that al-Qaeda has given the Islamist ISIS group five days to fall into line or else face being “banished.” ISIS assassinated a senior al-Qaeda emissary earlier this week in another indication of the fractured nature of opposition to Assad.

In the Israeli media, Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom and Israel Radio news all say a senior Israeli security source told Time magazine that Israeli jets did carry out an attack on Hezbollah arms movements on the Lebanon-Syria border late Monday night. Apparently, the target was a convoy of surface-to-surface missiles which are heavier and more dangerous than the current weaponry Hezbollah possesses.

Both Maariv and Makor Rishon prominently cover the talks yesterday between Germany’s Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Netanyahu over Iran’s nuclear programme. Merkel said she understood Israel’s concerns and that the agreement between the international community and Tehran is the best practical option for now.

Maariv also focuses on a contingency plan proposed by former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, who says that if negotiations with the Palestinian Authority do not bear fruit, Israel should unilaterally withdraw from areas of the West Bank and determine its own borders for itself. Oren is considered to be a close associate of Prime Minister Netanyahu.