The High Court of Justice on Monday upheld the government’s natural gas policy, rejecting a petition to overturn it by a 5- 2 vote. The core of the petition was that deciding on a natural gas policy impacting hundreds of billions of shekels and with massive social impacts needed to be done by the full Knesset and not by a mere government decision. Supreme Court President Asher D. Grunis, Deputy President Miriam Naor and Justices Esther Hayot, Edna Arbel and Noam Sohlberg were part of the majority in favor of the state, while Justices Salim Joubran and Elyakim Rubinstein made up the dissent, stating that the government lacked authority to decide the issue without Knesset approval.

Demonstration in Jerusalem against gas export (Photo: J14)

The cabinet decision from June 23 stipulated that 540 billion cubic meters of natural gas would be kept at home, thereby limiting export quantities to 40 percent of the country’s estimated reserves rather than a 53% cap that had been initially suggested. For MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), the decision to reject the petition is particularly problematic and would enable neo-liberal Netanyahu’s government to go on as, such a large number of Knesset members had been in favor of bringing the issue to the legislative body. “My expectation is that this demand would be respected, even if on a parliamentary level it is possible to find loopholes that would allow the government to behave in this problematic way. The struggle for reducing gas exports and lowering gas prices continues in other public channels,” Khenin said.

Adam Teva V’Din (Israel Union for Environmental Defense) and the Movement for Quality Government, both of which were involved in the petition, said that they still believe that the government’s decision not to allow for a “transparent and public decision” in the Knesset occurred with a lack of authority. Adam Teva V’Din vowed to work together with Knesset members to promote a law that will ensure the preservation of gas for the local economy.