Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel s environment reporter.
A satellite image of Israel and Gaza s southern Mediterranean coast taken by the EU s Sentinel 1 on February 12, 2021. (screen capture)
The head of the company that helped Israel pinpoint a vessel it says is responsible for spilling oil that wound up polluting the country’s beaches is calling on Jerusalem to significantly bolster its monitoring capabilities, or risk being stricken again.
“Until Israel, like every other country that respects its oceans, has the ability to monitor daily for oil spills and to find the perpetrators, this can happen again and again. It’s a decision away,” said Ami Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Tel Aviv-based marine intelligence firm Windward.
By Viva Sarah Press, NoCamels
March 11, 2021 7 minutes
Environment News
A clump of tar on a beach in Israel following the February 2021 oil spill. Photo: Rachel Pardo
Environmental groups in Israel are warning that a massive oil spill last month is a trailer of what’s to come if government plans for an oil pipeline deal set for the Red Sea port of Eilat materialize. The spill has continued to wash up clumps of tar along over 90 percent of the country’s 195-kilometer Mediterranean coastline, devastating beaches, killing wildlife, and reaching as far up as neighboring Lebanon.
“This is one of the worst ecological disasters we have ever experienced,” Maya Jacobs, CEO of Zalul environmental NGO that is dedicated to the protection of the seas and rivers of Israel, tells NoCamels. “And this is like a promo. This is nothing compared to what could happen to us. We have nature calling us, saying wake up, look what you’re doing.”
Op-edWe could have reduced, if not prevented, this catastrophe
Israel’s coast is devastated by an oil spill. If only we’d had an emergency plan
A national response plan for marine oil pollution incidents was ordered in 2008; it was never implemented. Now the beaches are closed, seafood is banned, and further disasters loom
David Horovitz is the founding editor of The Times of Israel. He is the author of Still Life with Bombers (2004) and A Little Too Close to God (2000), and co-author of Shalom Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin (1996). He previously edited The Jerusalem Post (2004-2011) and The Jerusalem Report (1998-2004).
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.
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An oil spill at sea that has dumped tons of tar almost all the way along Israel’s Mediterranean coast forced the authorities on Sunday to close all beaches from Rosh Hanikra in the north to Ashkelon in the south until further notice.
Gila Gamliel, the environmental protection minister, said she hopes the cleanup will end in time for beach season to open on March 20, but neither she nor anybody else can be certain yet of the damage wreaked by the disaster.
Described by a senior Environmental Protection Ministry official as the worst catastrophe he could recall to hit Israel’s coastal sands and rocks because of its wide geographical spread, the spill has killed sea turtles and fish and was possibly responsible for the death of a juvenile fin whale that washed up on Nitzanim beach in the south of the country on Thursday.