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Tara Kavaler
Israel’s ultra-religious parties have no platforms on green issues
Gilad Kariv, who will become the Israeli legislature’s first-ever Reform rabbi when the recently elected lawmakers are sworn in on Wednesday, is the left-wing Labor party’s environmental point person. For the history-making rabbi, unlike his counterparts in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, action against global climate change is a faith-based initiative.
“Reform Judaism and Progressive Judaism in general are working very hard now to shape a Jewish response to the environmental crisis,” he told The Media Line. “It’s part of our theology that emphasizes ethics, moral behavior, a sense of social and communal responsibility. …
Tara Kavaler
Politicians on both the right and left agree urgent action needed
For years, environmentalists have tried and failed to convince Knesset candidates to join a debate focused solely on the environment. A group of teenagers succeeded in just three months.
Their efforts culminated in Thursday’s first-ever campaign debate on the environment, held in the auditorium at Hakfar Hayarok Youth Village for Environmental Leadership educational campus in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat HaSharon.
The debate featured: from the parties on the political right, Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel of the Likud Party, lawmaker Alex Kushnir of the Yisrael Beitenu Party, Amichai Shikli of the Yamina Party, and Sharren Haskel of the New Hope Party; from the center, Yorai Lahav-Hertzano of the Yesh Atid Party; and from the parties on the left, lawmaker Tamar Zandberg of the Meretz Party, and first-time candidate Gilad Kariv of the Labor Party.