Gas and hot air

Natural gas is a good thing, says the press, but allegedly political statements by an IDF officer are bad

Israel finally has a valuable natural resource, and it’s keeping the lion’s share for itself, according to an announcement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In case Israeli newspapers hadn’t spilled enough ink on the country’s newfound natural gas reserves and the bounty they bestow, they take it from the top once again.

Haaretz reports that after a series of meetings between Netanyahu, Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, the PM said he’s pushing a plan to export 40 percent of Israel’s natural gas futures. The government is slated to vote on the measure on Sunday.

Why is natural gas so good for Israel? Yedioth Ahronoth runs a cutesy Q&A session and explains that it “frees us, at least partially, from dependence upon imported energy sources, and lets us take care of ourselves for years to come.” The natural gas from beneath the sea which will heat homes, run factories, and provide energy, it says, will be “for everyone’s benefit.” Aside from simplistic answers such as these, the paper barely scratches the surface of the issues.

Israel Hayom quotes our fearless leader saying the gas is a “gift from nature” in his speech announcing the magnanimous move to let the people of Israel profit from their natural resources.

“We certainly do not want to be like the countries that delayed in making decisions and were left without gas in the end,” the prime minister is quoted as saying. “Instead of the gas staying in the ground, or under the sea in our case, we want to begin to produce gas and to fill the state’s coffers with billions of shekels that will allow us to ease the economic burden on the public, and, of course, to see to our important national needs.”

It quotes Shalom as saying that the profits from exporting 40% of Israel’s gas findings will go to reducing the cost of living and electricity rates.

Maariv quotes opponents of the natural gas move, who protested the decision as “another broken pre-election promise” on Wednesday night. They called for a moratorium on the decision of how much gas to export “until a clarification [of the quantity] from the natural gas findings and the needs of the [Israeli] market,” and only thereafter putting the decision to a Knesset vote.

“The Israeli government is trying to close the deal on transferring everyone’s natural gas to the hands of a few influential and wealthy people,” activists in Tel Aviv told the paper. “They are again taking our wealth from us and giving it to them.”

Ever an optimist, Hezi Sternlicht writes in Israel Hayom that “there is enough gas for everyone” and that “the struggle over the cut that should stay is of lesser importance.”

Singing the praises of the 30 or more years of bounty the state will receive, Sternlicht says the gas “can reduce the cost of living, and it’s started to do so already. It is cleaning the air we breathe and will be here for decades to come.” But, he has a caveat — a gray cloud on his otherwise sunny outlook — “in another 25 or 50 years, the natural gas will run out. It will be the mission of coming generations to find other, green energy solutions.”

Elsewhere in the news, right-wing politicians are in a huff over statements by GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon on Tuesday to the effect that the renewed efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry have had a positive influence in calming the West Bank, and should negotiations falter there could be dire consequences.

“If American efforts conclude in the coming weeks without results,” Haaretz quotes him telling the press, “I’m afraid we will see the escalation [of violence in the West Bank]… strengthen.”

Maariv reports that Jewish Home MKs lashed out against the increasingly vocal IDF commander in charge of the West Bank, saying his political statements were out of line.

“The political statements by the GOC Central Command are excessive and cross the line for a senior officer in the IDF. His role… is to eliminate dangers, threats and terrorism, and to prepare military forces…” MK Moti Yogev is quoted as saying, adding that if Alon had a problem with that assignment he should “turn in his uniform and find work in the Israeli foreign service.”

Maariv’s parent publication, Makor Rishon, dispenses with the journalistic niceties and rails against the “controversial statements” made by Alon.

“As if there weren’t enough existing tension between settlers in Judea and Samaria and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon,” it writes, referring to the general’s hardline stance against settler violence and refusal to loosen the IDF’s rules of engagement in the West Bank. It twists the officer’s words into a veiled threat: “A controversial statement in the disagreement with the general is liable to inflame the area and the existing friction once again.”

The paper reports that Alon’s statements “awakened rage principally because of the thin line that they crossed, and the ostenisbly covert dabbling in politics and policy.”

Yedioth Ahronoth writes that the IDF responded to Alon’s statements by saying it would take no steps against him, and that his words weren’t political in nature.