Pre-election, Kahlon vowed to tackle gas issue

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would avoid any comment or action on the issue of natural gas, Army Radio reports.

The reason Kahlon reportedly cited is his personal relationship with businessman Koby Maimon, controlling shareholder in Isramco, a company with a stake in the Tamar gas reservoir.

On Monday, Antitrust Authority chief Prof. David Gilo announced he would be resigning from his position due to substantive disagreement with the government on how to prevent a situation where a few private companies monopolize the natural gas market. Kahlon stressed the fight against monopolies in all sectors of the Israeli market as one of the rallying points of his election campaign. His silence on the resignation of Gilo, which drew responses from across the political spectrum, was deafening.

Four months ago, before the election, Kahlon was interviewed by Channel 2 and asked whether he would tackle the natural gas issue in spite of being a friend of Maimon. “What has this to do with anything? Of course I’ll deal with it, of course,” was his answer.