The Magistrate's Court approved the demand of the Ministry of Environmental Protection • Many criticisms were heard about the move: "Fatal damage to public trust" • At the same time, the cleaning operations continue
Tar on the shores of Ashdod
Photo:
Reuters
Disaster tar pollution on beaches:
The Ministry of Environmental Protection announced today (Monday) that Judge Dr. Ziad Fallah of the Magistrate's Court in Haifa imposed a restraining order on the ongoing investigation into the matter.
The order prohibits the publication of any detail of the investigation details and any detail that may identify the suspects, including the name of the vessel, ports of departure and destination, cargo and shipping lane.
The order is valid until February 28.
From the bird's eye view: The ecological disaster on the beaches // Photo: Gil Kramer
MK Merav Michaeli, chairman of the Labor Party, criticized the move: "An order banning the publication of an ecological disaster, censorship of prisoner exchanges, concealment of the corona protocols - Netanyahu is hiding in all areas: political, security, health and economic. He knows how much damage he has. "A serious and destructive factor, so he hides from the public like in a dictatorship. We owe a different leadership here, a leadership of truth."
MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) addressed the State Comptroller with a demand to check the government's conduct in the treatment of tar pollution:
The investigation of the events is a necessity, the next ecological disaster is only a matter of time. "
Adam, Teva and Din also commented on the implications of the move: "Hiding all issues related to the investigation of the tar disaster is a fatal blow to public trust in government and regulators, which are supposed to ensure public and environmental safety. In environmental issues, especially when it comes to disaster of this magnitude, transparency and public information is critical "It is rooted in law and case law. Man, nature and law examine the legal possibilities to appeal the order and protect the public's right to know."
Meanwhile, this morning the cleaning operations continued across the beaches.
Dozens of participants took part in a tar cleaning operation on Betzet Beach in the Western Galilee.
Field school personnel and field study centers at the Society for the Protection of Nature, who raided the beach strip between Betzet and the Achziv monument this morning, cleaned it of lumps of tar that were ejected from the sea last week.
The volunteers discovered an unpleasant surprise - lumps of tar emitted during the night to the beach, in areas that had already been cleaned.
Yosef Eskala, director of the Arab community at the Society for the Protection of Nature, says that the immediate challenge is to clean the beaches and as an environmental-civic organization, the Arab sector in Israel is an integral part of tar removal activities.
"For years, we have been working to protect the sea - in education, advocacy, advancing policy and legislation and public and legal struggles. In recent years. The effort has been directed to protecting the deep sea, to prevent such disasters, and at least to improve preparedness for them."
Participated in the preparation of the article: Yuri Yalon
