The war in Gaza is at the forefront of the minds of Israeli citizens and government officials. Still, Israel’s environmental activists say the planet is paying a high price for neglect of environmental policy.
Amit Bracha, CEO of the environmental advocacy organization Adam Teva V’Din, described the current government as “the worst for the environment in the country’s history.”
With oceans warming, jellyfish appearing earlier in the year, and plants blooming too early, it’s clear, according to green activists, that climate change is happening.
Israel is warming at twice the rate of the global average and is not prepared for heat waves, forest fires, and drought conditions.
However, the current government is putting environmental legislation on the back burner, according to activists.
Adam Teva V’Din said that even before the war, they had to fight proposals to cut government funding for environmental programs, increase the tax on electric cars, and scrap a tax on single-use plastics.
The organization hopes to see passage of The Climate Act and a carbon tax, both measures delayed due to the onset of the war.
“It’s very indicative of how they [the government] just don’t consider clean, independent energy a national priority,” said Adam Teva V’Din’s deputy CEO Tami Ganot.
