CND's Press Round-Up - 14th May 2021
Posted: 14th May 2021
Dear all,
Please find today’s press round up below. Thank you to all for their continued help and support.
Nuclear Weapons
A number of prominent U.S. Catholics have called on their country to revitalise efforts towards nuclear disarmament.
Christian Opposition to Nuclear Weapons
The U.S. Catholic press reports that a number of prominent U.S. Catholics, including three bishops, have written an open letter to Joe Biden calling for his administration to set out an ‘ambitious’ plan for nuclear disarmament. The statement argues for a no first use posture and working much more closely with Russia on weapons reduction. It also asks Biden to signal his support for the TPNW.
Anti-War
Fears of an Israeli invasion of Gaza mounted whilst the international community seems no further forward in offering any humane policy on the crisis.
Israeli Attacks on the Gaza Strip
As the death toll mounted to more than one hundred people, informed speculation mounted that Israel is preparing for a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza. According to the Guardian, IDF ground forces were firing into it from Israel. By its own account, Israel deployed 160 planes over Gaza last night.
However, plans for an invasion may be complicated by the massive protests of Palestinian citizens of Israel, which have affected dozens of cities and communal violence that has been deployed against them. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a press conference on live television to announce the deployment of the security police into the Israel interior, and said they should use force without ‘worrying about investigations or commissions of inquiry’.
Hamas has deployed so-called ‘suicide drones’ against parts of southern Israel.
International Response to the Crisis
The U.S, Israel’s most important strategic ally, in a statement from Joe Biden merely reiterated that ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ but also urged de-escalation according to Al Jazeera. The U.S. is also apparently engaged in diplomatic efforts with Qatar, Egypt and Jordan to produce a ceasefire.
The veteran Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn has a column in The Independent in which he discusses what the U.S. options might be. Cockburn argues that ‘the White House was genuinely surprised by the sudden eruption of the crisis this week and does not know what to do’.
The government of Emanuel Macron has asked police to ban Palestine solidarity demonstrations in Paris this weekend. During 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, a similar ban on demonstrations was defied on a mass scale. The head of the Association France-Palestine Solidarite was arrested earlier this week.
Nuclear Power
Parts of the Sellafield plant have had to suspend their operations temporarily after safety concerns were discovered.
Nuclear Power-UK
Reprocessing has been paused at Sellafield after radiation detectors were found to be ‘not fit for purpose’ according to local press. Operations are expected to resume in two to four weeks’ time. A spokesperson for the plant said that ‘additional safety measures have been put in place. These include reducing the numbers of people accessing the area and deploying back-up monitoring equipment’. The detectors in question were installed in the 1980s and encased in lead after being thought to be over-sensitive then.
With best wishes,
Michael Muir
Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament