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Israeli soldiers clean tar off the Palmachim beach following an offshore oil spill which hit most of the Israeli coastline. February 22, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The Environmental Protection Ministry on Thursday pushed back against accusations of a tardy response to the oil spill disaster that has seen almost all of Israel’s Mediterranean beaches closed down because of tar pollution.
Reports of the pollution emerged last Thursday when a dead 17-meter baby fin whale washed up on Israel’s southern coast, along with other wildlife.
Asked why it took so long for Israeli authorities to get a grip on what had happened, the Environmental Protection Ministry’s director of the National Unit for the Protection of the Marine Environment, Rani Amir, said, “We had no early warning and no one in the Mediterranean knew about it.”
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel s environment reporter.
A ladybug rests on tar-covered rocks and shells after an oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea, at Tel-Dor Nature Reserve in Nahsholim, Israel; Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. A disastrous oil spill has blackened most of the country s shoreline and reached beaches of neighboring Lebanon. The cleanup is expected to take months. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
The government on Tuesday approved NIS 45 million ($13.8 million) for the cleanup of Israel’s Mediterranean beaches, most of which have been severely contaminated by tar following an oil spill at sea which is currently under investigation.
The government’s announcement followed a court decision Tuesday morning to cancel a seven-day ban on the reporting of any details about the probe, in favor of a package of more limited reporting rules. The change followed a petition from several media organizations.