Media Summary
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband continues hunger strike
BBC News reports that Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has vowed to continue his hunger strike over his wife’s continued imprisonment in Iran. Ratcliffe met Foreign Secretary Liz Truss earlier this week but said that she and other ministers were being “too timid” in their efforts to bring his wife home. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is currently staying with her mother in Iran, but she is not allowed to leave the country. Her husband fears it is only a matter of time before she will be summoned back to jail, after losing a recent appeal.
The Independent reports that General Abdelfattah al-Burhan, the military leader of Sudan’s coup, has fired six of the country’s envoys abroad, including from the US, EU, UN, France, China, and Qatar. The diplomats had challenged the coup and supported the transitional government under the civilian leadership of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was detained earlier this week.
The Guardian reports on how Middle Eastern countries are being forced to deal with climate change as the region warms at a pace twice as fast as the rest of the world. The paper notes: “By the end of the century, if the more dire predictions prove true, Mecca may not be habitable, making the summer Haj a pilgrimage of peril, even catastrophe. Large tracts of the Middle East will resemble the desert in Ethiopia’s Afar, a vast expanse with no permanent human settlement pressed against the Red Sea. The gleaming Gulf coastal cities by the end of the century could find themselves inundated as waters rise. It is not quite Apocalypse Now, but Apocalypse Foreseeably Soon.”
The Economist reports that Israel’s unlikely coalition is surpassing expectations, but that the upcoming budget vote could jeopardise the progress it has made. The article says former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shadow has “started to recede in Israel” under the new broad coalition government. However, the paper argues that the current coalition can only survive through an “act of amnesia,” which requires all parties in the coalition to set aside their most divisive issues, especially that of the Palestinians.
All the Israeli media report Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is scheduled to meet privately with several leaders at the climate conference in Glasgow next week, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In addition, he will also meet with the leaders of France, India, and Canada. Israel Hayom adds that Bennett is also expected to meet for the first time Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. According to Yediot Ahronot, Prime Minister Bennett will pledge to have zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 when he addresses the conference on Monday. According to the paper, “This is the first time that Israel has fallen in line with similar pledges by industrialised countries. It is a much more ambitious goal than the one that a cabinet resolution presented just recently, which aimed to lower emissions by up to 85 per cent, a goal that the environmental organisations described as unsatisfactory.” Bennett is quoted saying: “The climate crisis affects the lives of all of us, and the lives of our children and grandchildren. This is a matter of our lives, and so we must treat it with the utmost determination here too. Israel is the innovation nation, and it has the ability to contribute to the world the skill and the creativity that only it has. By setting this new goal, Israel is standing alongside the developed countries that are already taking action to reach the goal of zero emissions and confirming its commitment to the Paris Accords and the international conventions on the issue.”
Maariv reports that 14 European countries, including Germany, France, and Italy called on Israel yesterday to retract its approval of new construction in the West Bank. However, only 12 of the 27 European Union member states joined the statement condemning the proposed new construction in the West Bank, after a consensus could not be reached. The paper carries quotes comments from across the political spectrum, including Deputy Defence Minister Alon Schuster from Blue and White saying, “Blue and White is promoting moderate construction in the settlement blocs, along with authorising Palestinian construction as much as possible. The steps that the defence minister has taken in recent months haven’t been done for over a decade, including granting legal status to 4,000 undocumented Palestinians and increasing the quota of Palestinian laborers in the construction and hotel sector. The authorisation for construction was given after ten months in which nothing of the kind happened, and the entire process was done in a balanced way in full coordination with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.” However, left-wing coalition partner Meretz called to retract the decision to build in the settlements. MK Gaby Lasky (Meretz) said: “Instead of offering housing to the settlers and intensifying the occupation, public housing must be built for the citizens living within sovereign Israeli territory.”
Channel 12 News has revealed recordings of Prime Minister Bennett during a closed-door meeting last month saying he did not believe that the alternating premiership arrangement with Foreign Minister Lapid would take place. Bennett reportedly said, “there is a good chance that the government will fall apart” before the alternating premiership arrangement could go into effect, “for a variety of reasons”. This morning Maariv carries a response from the Prime Minister’s Office: “As he has said from the first moment, Bennett will keep the agreement in full. The partnership with Lapid is based on trust and fairness. Ahead of the budget’s passing, which will stabilise the government, all sorts of comments from various times are being reported. The budget will pass, and the arrangement will take place.”
Kan Radio News reports that President Herzog is scheduled to visit Kafr Qasim today and speak at the memorial ceremony for the victims of the massacre that took place there 65 years ago. Ministers and MKs will also attend the ceremony.