Natural gas discovery: 2010’s most underestimated story

Roi Maor By Roi Maor December 31, 2010 | Edit

The New York Times reports good news for Israel:

Exploratory drilling off Israel’s northern coast this week has confirmed the existence of a major natural gas field — one of the world’s largest offshore gas finds of the past decade…

As I wrote in the past, this story has not garnered the attention it merits. The natural gas find could finance a huge improvement in public services, which have been seriously underfunded in recent years, with disastrous consequences. Alternatively, it could make the wealthiest people in Israel – already one of the Western world’s most unequal nations – even richer.

The Newspaper of Record describes how “the find has been accompanied by a heated debate over how much in taxes and royalties Israel will charge.” A “debate” indeed. In favor of a higher share for the state, you have every Israeli group advocating for social justice, plus the famous socialists from the IMF, the OECD, Israel’s Treasury Ministry and the governor of the Bank of Israel, Stanley Fischer. On the other side, you have, well, the natural gas tycoons themselves.

What the NYT does not report, is that these tycoons have recently been boosted by a nasty nationalist scare-mongering campaign. MK Ofir Akounis (Likud), chair of the Economics Committee, bizarrely implied [Heb] that the New Israel Fund (a non-profit that channels funds from abroad to a variety of Israeli social and human rights organizations) wants to increase the royalties, so that foreign investors would be driven away to Lebanon, thus strengthening Hizbullah. Others have pointed to Iran as the benefactor of the Bank of Israel’s largesse.

This should be a no-brainer. A public commission, headed by a respected economist, will soon recommend increasing the taxes on natural gas profits. Note, that the taxes will be levied on profits, not income, so there is no risk that gas production will become economically unviable, only less exorbitantly profitable. And it would only bring Israel in line with other Western countries, in terms of royalties and taxes on natural resources. Right now, it ranks at the very bottom.

With natural gas lobbyists using every dirty trick in the book, and appealing to Israelis’ worst instincts, you never know. Let’s hope 2011 is a year in which good sense and basic decency prevails, on this issue as well as others.

Roi Maor

I am an activist for social rights and human rights in Israel and Palestine, living in Tel Aviv. I’ve written several human rights reports and op-eds in ynet, Ha’aretz and the Jerusalem Post. Over the last few years, I volunteered and worked for several Israeli NGOs, including Yesh Din, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily represent the views of the organizations I work for.

End of article module for Members

TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.    We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.   This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza.   We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.   Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

Make a Donation