Israel is to have a new Climate Forum to help set national agenda on climate issues, under the auspices of the President’s Office, President Isaac Herzog announced on Wednesday, October 20. The forum will include officials from the government, the Knesset, and local authorities, representatives from academia and political and social activists. According to the statement issued by Herzog’s office, the members of the forum will be expected to meet several times a year.

“Emergency Situation” — Veteran environmental activist and leading member of the Communist Party of Israel, former Hadash MK Dov Khenin, will be heading up the new Climate Forum being launched by President Isaac Herzog. (Photo: Zo Haderech)

To head up the forum, Herzog appointed veteran environmental activist and a leading member of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), former Hadash MK Dov Khenin. Khenin has previously headed Haim v’Sviva (“Life and Environment”) an umbrella organization of Israeli environmental groups which the President’s Office said the new forum would be work with.

Dr. Khenin, now a professor at Tel Aviv University said in the statement that the forum was “an important initiative to mobilize and enlist our society to change direction to confront the climate crisis, which threatens our future.” “This is an enormous challenge, which we must not run away from. A state of emergency necessitates emergency steps. Israel can and must be part of the solution. I call on all public leaders to join this initiative,” Khenin said.

Herzog’s office said he will meet later this month with the Israeli delegation to the Glasgow COP26 Summit next month, “with the aim of raising the matter of global warming to public discourse through the public, business, and social sectors in Israel.”