Conflicts of interest in the gas agreement with Lebanon? According to a report by News 13 last night (Sunday), an associate of Prime Minister Lapid, Hillel Kobrinsky, was active in convincing ministers in the government about the importance of the agreement with Lebanon, and also briefed ministers and members of the Yesh Atid party.
However, Kobrinsky, who is considered the strongest man in Yesh Atid and serves as the head of the party’s headquarters and the director of the election campaign, allegedly acted in the Lebanon matter when his sister, Limor Poker-Kobrinsky, has been serving since 2014 as a senior member of the Dorad energy company, which signed an agreement to purchase natural gas from the Shark rig Worth billions.
According to the report of political reporter Moriah Asraf, government officials claim that Kobrinsky “tried to convince senior officials within the government, including those outside Lish Atid, of the importance of the agreement – even before the vote on it took place in the government.” It was also reported that Kobrinsky “also briefed the members and ministers of the party on the importance of the agreement in question, as part of the election campaign.”
Lapid’s senior advisor – and the nurse: behind the scenes of the gas agreement First publication
For the full report – https://t.co/w8icDnyuJ3@MoriahAsraf pic.twitter.com/ACKii5n3Ra
— News 13 (@newsisrael13) October 30, 2022
The Yesh Atid party stated in response to the publication on News 13 that “the agreement with Lebanon has nothing to do with the production of gas from Karish”, but this response seems very puzzling in light of the fact that over the past few weeks, the claim that the Karish field remains in Israel’s possession and that it will be able to start producing gas from it has been circulated on by the Prime Minister and his spokesmen as a significant “achievement” that Israel was able to achieve within the framework of the negotiations on the border arrangements in the North.
At the beginning of the cabinet meeting where the agreement was approved last Thursday, Lapid declared, among other things, that “this is an economic achievement” and explained that “production from the Shark reservoir began yesterday.” Lapid even visited the rig there yesterday announced again Because the start of gas production is “a great achievement for the State of Israel”. a few weeks ago wrote Lapid About the agreement that “the security of the north will be strengthened, the Harish rig will operate and produce gas, the money will go into the state coffers and our energy independence is guaranteed. This is a deal that strengthens Israeli security and the Israeli economy.” This is also one of the explanations given by the state in court in an attempt to justify the urgency of approving the agreement without bringing it to a vote in the Knesset as required by law.
It should of course be noted that the Shark field is entirely in Israeli territory and has never actually been subject to a dispute with Lebanon, but as mentioned Lapid and his people are the ones who presented for a long time the spin that only an agreement with Lebanon could guarantee the start of activities in the Shark, and tried to present the preservation of Shark as an achievement Apparently Israeli, in the face of the numerous concessions that Lebanon demanded and received.
Now that the alleged involvement of the man closest to Lapid in the promotion of the agreement has become clear, even though he does not hold an official position in the government and despite the apparent conflict of interest he is in, one can once again question the haste in which Lapid acted to approve the surrender agreement with Lebanon, contrary to the law and during a transitional government just before elections.
After the start of gas production from the Harish rig: Prime Minister Yair Lapid conducted a security tour of the rig. “In this place is the energetic and economic future of the State of Israel,” said the Prime Minister. “The gas exit map that will ensure a lowering of the cost of living – this is a great achievement for the State of Israel”
Photo: Omer Miron, CEO pic.twitter.com/MLZaD2Xuzm— The News – N12 (@N12News) October 30, 2022
This is not the first time that Kobrinsky’s name is mentioned in the context of economic and other decisions made by Lapid or others in Yesh Atid.
In November of last year, Avi Bar-Eli reported in The Marker that Energy Minister Karin Elharer decided to shelve power plants that would supply electricity to Gush Dan, contrary to the position of her advisers and contrary to the opinion of the professionals, and instead chose to promote the Dorad power plant where his sister is employed of Kobrinsky, in a deal valued at billions of shekels.
Even earlier, during Lapid’s short tenure as Minister of Finance, Globes reported on the Ministry of Finance’s decision to grant “extraordinary aid” in the amount of NIS 1.5 million to small breweries, whose owners include his senior adviser Kobrinsky. In September 2013, it was reported in Walla that the State Comptroller opened an investigation following complaints that came to his office regarding “alleged improper involvement” on the part of Kobrinsky, Yair Lapid’s close associate and who headed the Yesh Atid election campaign, in “decisions made in the Ministry of Finance headed by Lapid” “. After that, it was reported in Israel Hayom that the auditor is investigating, among other things, “the alleged improper involvement of the businessman Hillel Kobrinsky in the meetings held at the Ministry of Finance.”
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