Israel: Another minister may step down over natural gas deal

Israel’s economy Minister Aryeh Deri may opt to leave his government position rather than use its power to approve a controversial natural gas deal championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The deal’s controversy started last December when former antitrust commissioner David Gilo ruled that the Delek-Noble conglomerate may constitute a monopoly.

Only the nation’s economy minister has the authority to override the antitrust commissioner’s decisions. Deri, however, told Netanyahu that would resign rather than oppose the deal in spite his publicly known issues with the gas deal.

Many people have criticized Deri, claiming that he refuses to either support or condemn the deal. He responed to the comments by writing: “I improved the gas framework. Thanks to me, the whole process was carried out with transparency. Even after seven changes I forced into the deal, it is still now only the lesser of possible evils, but it is the only option to implement the framework and bring billions of shekels into the state’s coffers in this difficult economic period. Despite all that, I won’t overrule the antitrust commission and won’t activate Article 52.”

Full content: The Times of Israel

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