Israel's Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz has harshly criticized Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon for criticizing the gas agreement while claiming conflict of interest because of his friendship with owners of energy developers. Speaking at the ""Globes" Israel Business Conference last night Kahlon said that he agreed with Minister of Environmental Protection Avi Gabbay's criticism of the agreement saying, "If it's not genuine and it's not right, then it won't hold water."
Steinitz said, 'If you claim you have a conflict of interest and consequently you don't take part in the cabinet discussion, and you don't even listen, then you can't express an opinion now. Express it when there was the discussion. To wait until discussions are over and say I would have done better is not acceptable to me. It lacks taste and borders on hypocrisy."
He went onto criticize Gabbay's opposition to the agreement and call for re-visiting the decision about taxing gas revenues. "It's not only irrational but also immoral towards Israel's citizens. The State made a decision, and the Knesset approved it. I'm not giving up on that."
Steinitz stressed that the Israel government cannot intervene on the legal claims that Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) has for $1.8 billion from Egyptian companies. "We are checking out the sale of gas not only to Egypt but also Jordan, Greece, and further in the future Turkey. Our relations with Turkey were once good and we have to think about renewing them."
He added, "Through our close bilateral relations with Egypt we can continue to move forward on the subject of gas in the near future."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 7, 2015
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