A Storm Alongside the Quiet
Can you hear all that Israeli election campaign hubbub about environmental protection? You’re not wrong: a deafening silence from those running for a seat in the Knesset (parliament).
Others have not been so quiet. Already back in May more than 20 Israeli civil society organizations appealed to elected officials to include the issue in the campaign. Perhaps hoping to strengthen their case, the activists positively highlighted those parliamentarians who stood out in their pro-environment activities.
If the continuing silence is any indication, the effort has yet to bear fruit.
True, there was a moment when the issue stormed to the forefront of our lives; that was in late August, when microalgae clogged Israel’s desalination plants. But since water continued to exit our faucets and flows for agricultural use were quickly restored, media attention wasted no time turning back to Iran and the Palestinians.
Just one problem: while interest in the microalgae crisis disappeared as if it had been solved, that’s not what was happening on the ground. In reality the desalination plants, which routinely supply about 80 percent of our drinking water, still hadn’t returned to full activity six weeks (and counting) after the saga began.
The public discourse’s hasty abandonment of the crisis obscured suspicions that there is more to the professional handling of this crisis than meets the eye. The loose ends include the significance of emergency pumping from the Sea of Kinneret and aquifers, as well as the spraying of high concentrations of copper sulfate into the sea near Ashkelon.
From a broader standpoint: the microalgae crisis exposed just how dangerous it is, even in the issue of water management, to sink into a comfort zone. Israel was reminded of this hazard most recently by the September 30 flydubai terrorist hijacking attempt, which in turn evoked our complacency just before the October 7, 2023 invasion of the country by Palestinian terrorists.
Speaking of Palestinians: reports have connected the microalgae with untreated raw sewage discharged from Gaza, not just the sea currents from Egypt. In view of this possibility, as well as news of wastewater seepage from the Palestinian Authority areas, it might be a good idea to view environmental protection as directly relevant to our national security.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s what will bring the environmental issue into the elections discourse. After all, there’s no word more magical than “security.”
Even if we put our water issue in order, other environmental protection challenges remain to be addressed during the campaign. Health-endangering global warming emissions top the list.
Such emissions actually declined in 2025, according to data released in September by the Environmental Protection Ministry. While not at the hoped-for pace, a gradual reduction in this context has been an ongoing trend dating back to 2012. It appears that a steady decrease in the use of coal does matter.
But not all is good news. Tragically, the dangerous emissions still pouring out are considered responsible for about 5,500 premature deaths annually.
Furthermore, our exposure to cancer-causing airborne materials remains high. This risk is especially due to the continued burning of waste – accounting for 75 percent of such dangerous materials – despite the action being illegal in areas under the control of Israel, as well as in the Palestinian Authority.
And now, time for full disclosure: it wasn’t August’s desalination plant clogging that drove me to write this pre-election piece. That crisis simply fell into my lap as I mulled an earlier development.
What actually got me started was a May decision by Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) to stop managing efforts dealing with climate change. Not a trivial move; as previously mentioned, the word “security” has a way of rousing the troops here. Any issue lacking this brand is liable to be treated as marginal, even if people are getting sick – and even dying – because of it.
I devoted years of my diplomatic career to national security issues; I’m also a graduate of the IDF’s National Defense College. As such, there’s no doubt in my mind that environmental protection must again be handled as an integral part of that sphere. If not, we’ll all pay a heavy price.
Our next government would do well to re-examine the NSC decision in this regard. If August’s desalination plant shutdown doesn’t underline the connection between environmental protection and potential vulnerabilities in Israel’s national security, I don’t know what does.
