Supreme Court president criticizes politicians who attacked gas deal ruling

Supreme Court president Miriam Naor criticizes politicians and ministers who lashed out at the court’s landmark ruling that a controversial deal to extract natural gas from massive offshore fields will be canceled within a year unless a central tenet of the agreement is significantly changed or canceled.

“Some of the things that were heard [with regard to the ruling], even by the officials in the executive and legislative branches, are not fitting for a Jewish and democratic state that respects the rule of law and the independence of the judicial system.”

The ruling puts a major damper on efforts by the state to approve the agreement with an Israeli-US consortium and override opposition by the state regulator, putting the brakes on a deal touted by the government as having the potential to bring hundreds of millions into state coffers and transform the country into a regional energy powerhouse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made the gas deal a centerpiece of his agenda, saying the discovery of large reserves would bring energy self-sufficiency and billions of dollars in tax revenues. But critics said the deal gave excessively favorable terms to the government’s corporate partners.