Activist: Gas Hearings Rigged

“At least half of the people summoned to the hearing have business connections with the gas companies,” charged Campaign for a Fair Gas Agreement activist Yossi Dorfman on Thursday, Globes reported.

Appearing on the second day of public hearings related to proposed new regulations for Israel’s natural gas industry, Dorfman declared, “This entire proceeding is undemocratic.”

He named names as well. “Today, representatives of the Manufacturers Association of Israel will come. They represent the interests of the gas monopoly, not those of the small and medium-sized enterprises. Then will come Moshe Shahal, who has business connections with the gas monopoly. After him will come the turn of Eco Energy, which has business connections with the gas monopoly.

“Next in line is Ratio Oil Exploration, followed by Amir Foster, who works for the gas companies. Also making an appearance will be Association of Foreign Banks in Israel chairman Boaz Schwartz and Miki Korner, a former regulator in the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources, who is currently a businessman making a living by working in the field. Representatives of Noble Energy will also appear.

“What the government has agreed with the gas tycoons has been concealed from the public. Nothing has been documented the way it should have been, just as it was described in the State Comptroller’s report, without minutes or Israelis knowing what the tycoons told the regulators, and vice versa. The lack of transparency about what the gas tycoons said — all this is typical of a corrupt country. The gas monopoly plan is a corrupt plan, and anyone who took part in it is a party to corruption.”

When the hearing disintegrated into shouting back and forth, the Ministry of Energy halted the broadcast of the hearing until calm returned a few minutes later.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the July 24th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.