Israel officially joins regional gas forum

• Published date: 29 December 2020
• Date: 29 December 2020
• Author: LAHAV HARKOV

"The vision became a reality!" Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz tweeted, pointing out that he and his and Egyptian counterpart Tarek al-Mulla initiated the EMGF.

"The blessing of gas leads us to historic cooperation with Arab and European states that will only broaden, along with contracts to export natural gas to Jordan and Egypt worth tens of billions of dollars, and more to come," Steinitz added.

Despite Israel's key role in founding the EMGF, which held its first meeting via video conference in September, its official membership in the organization was held up due to opposition from Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel.

Gamliel's office said she lifted her objection this week after Steinitz reassured her he planned to raise environmental issues in the forum's first meeting.

Steinitz's spokesman, however, said that he "already raised the topic of the environment and the climate crisis a number of times, as did representatives of other countries and the EU, and there is no doubt these topics will continue to be part of the discussions going forward.

"It is strange that no European or Middle Eastern members of the forum had to clarify the obvious and no members of the organization tried to take advantage of the matter for media exposure, such as what happened in Israel," the spokesman added, in an apparent accusation that Gamliel was using the matter for political gain.

A source in the Energy Ministry also pointed out that natural gas is an environmentally friendly energy and, thanks to gas finds in the Mediterranean Sea, Israel no longer burns coal, a major pollutant, for energy.

A source close to Gamliel called the statement from Steinitz's office "misogynist," and said that he would not react that way to a man. The source also said Gamliel's objections were only based on the issue at hand.

Gamliel wrote in her letter of objection that, earlier this month, Netanyahu promised that Israel would only use renewable energy sources by 2050. She said "Israel's commitment must be given clear expression in the organization's constitution."

She...