There is not a single ministry or government body whose job it is to protect the environment, that actually does this
At first there was the plant protection section in the Ministry of Agriculture, then the Nature Conservation Authority was established. The head and first of the administrators of the Nature Reserves Authority was Avraham Yaffe. His past as an avid hunter gave ammunition to his opponents, but he quickly proved his skills and with the help of a skilled professional team and dedicated field personnel he established the "authority" as a magnificent institution that fulfilled its role - the conservation of nature - to the best of its ability.
In the meantime, the "authority" was merged with the Parks Authority, the Nature and Parks Authority was established, for the management functions in a combination (unsanctified) appointing "generals" who retired, when their qualifications for the job, their understanding of nature conservation or even the need to preserve nature are not in doubt... they simply do not exist. The result: the Nature and Parks Authority is run as a business entity and its successes are measured in the financial balance, maybe that's how it should be?
In my humble opinion, successes must be measured by the extent to which the reserves, sites, and nature are preserved. Skilled professionals and dedicated field workers fail to cover up failures in maintaining the existing nature, sites and reserves, failures that result from... ignorance (at the top).
In the past I have written and emphasized, many times, that "conserving nature and the environment is economically viable" but that economic viability should be a lever for conservation and not a goal, which is probably not clear to the retiring director of the Nature and Parks Authority, one can only hope that whoever takes his place will understand his role, the preservation of nature and the environment.
Following a political need to promote a minister, the "Ministry of Environmental Protection" was established for him, and since then the minister's position in this ministry has been compensation for those who did not receive a "respectable" position, this despite the fact that in many advanced countries the Ministry of Environmental Protection is considered one of the most important ministries. There are countries where the role of environmental protection is combined in the Ministry of Tourism and sometimes also in the Ministry of Infrastructure, not with us, with us it is a small ministry whose importance is not understood, neither by our elected officials nor by those who appoint our ministers, therefore to this day a minister is appointed to it who could not get "something better" and the result accordingly...
Since the ministry was established, it has been staffed by ministers (with the exception of one), who may understand security and policy management, but in terms of the environment, not only do they not understand, but they also do not understand the fundamental, primary, basic need to protect our environment.
Environmental ignorance dominates the government authorities in our districts. When the whole world recognizes the importance of the activity for the environment, when the environmental offices in many countries are considered important and in demand with us, the issue is a side issue that is not considered more than a nuisance that must be taken into account because of the number of crazy people on the matter.
What brought me to write these lines is a "wise" comment by Tommy Lapid on the TV show (the best in my opinion) "Council of the Wise". I understand very little about politics, so did I understand managing a household, or law,
That is, as I defined it: I am ignorant of issues, and being ignorant of (any) issue, I am careful not to announce my position or opinions,
Not so the "wise" in general and Tommy Lapid in particular, they know everything, understand everything and therefore also treat / treats every issue with a voice of heroic humility. In the program "Hachma" on Channel 10, an example was given of the lack of public awareness of environmental matters in our districts, in the discussion about the restoration of the Emek-Harazim following the hazards of Highway 9, the producers did not bother to bring someone who understands environmental science, but placed the task of protecting the "greens" on good people, good and nothing No.
These found themselves in front of a well-known and sharp-tongued "environmental skeptic" ... Tommy Lapid who defined his understanding of the environment in general and the Emek Arazim issue in particular with the concept of "chmtzitz" to the self-righteous laughter of the other participants of the program,
So Mr. Tommy Lapid in particular and gentlemen of the "wise men" in general, your attitude shows only one thing... shows your ignorance on the subject, it is true that it is not a shame not to understand on this or that subject, but at the same time if it is Mr. wise Tommy Lapid, it has already been said that: "Ignorance It is not a flag worth waving."
Returning to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, as a result of the environmental ignorance that dominates our districts, the office that is supposed to protect our environment has become the office for issuing permits, permits for damage to the environment and everything in it, and this is how the office issues permits for discharging sewage into the sea, emitting pollutants into the air, discharging poisons into streams, and permits for the disposal of toxic chemicals For our environment, in short, an office for issuing permits to poison our environment. When there is a crack in a sewer pipe, the office is supposed to do everything to prevent the flow of sewage into our environment, right? But in order to advance a cure for the infection, they give permission for the infection. When power plant chimneys emit black smoke, the amount of particles is checked and if they do not exceed the "permissible amount"... when chemicals are poured into the stream, again, they are checked to see if the amount of poison does not exceed the "permitted level", when raw sewage is poured into the Sea of Galilee... they content themselves with closing beaches , also by the Ministry of Health...
The streams of the north become sewage carriers... the minister is silent inaction. That is, the ministry that is supposed to protect us from hazards and nuisances, the ministry that is supposed to preserve and protect our environment from destruction, sets "permissible levels" and gives "exceptional permits" for pollution and poisoning.
Perhaps it would have been appropriate for the appointed minister to add to his team a linguist who would explain to him the differences in the Hebrew language between protecting the environment, and permits to damage the environment, because once again it turns out that the flag raised in our environment is the flag of ignorance.
Mr. Minister in charge of the protection of our environment, if a sewer pipe bursts, your job is to prevent sewage from flowing into the sea, even if this requires you to sit and hug the pipe, when a chimney emits smoke... sit in development, if more volume is needed, take the Minister of Infrastructure with you, that's how you will get Both authority and volume.
Despite his election as president, Peres continues to roll and push the "Valley of Peace", a Minister of the Environment who understands his role had to establish a professional team to investigate the unfolding disaster called "The Sea Canal", a team that will propose alternatives and if the project comes to fruition, the team will supervise and prevent an environmental disaster, but the minister He does not understand his role!
Mr. Minister, you are the Minister of Environmental Protection and as such it is your job to protect our environment, not to tell us your political/security opinion, when a reporter/environmental activist asks you what will be done to neutralize the hazards in Ramat Hovav, your job is to do everything to neutralize the hazards, not to smirk in ignorance and avoid activity. It has already been said "Ignorance is not a flag that must be waved".
At the edge of the list
On Friday, Channel 10 showed "Vision/Disaster" the Sea Canal, probably to give a platform to the entrepreneur and to allow Channel 10 to show "Scoop" - a former Ovda base commander, otherwise it is difficult to understand why the opponents of the disaster were presented as eccentrics who cannot finish a sentence, it is difficult to understand how he A channel that shows support for the global environmental struggle, shows environmental ignorance about what is happening in our country, it's a shame.
Dr. Assaf Rosenthal, ecologist,
Tour guide/leader in Africa and South America.
For details: Tel. 0505640309 / 077-6172298,
Email: assaf@eilatcity.co.il
5 תגובות
to the first responder
The first Chief of Staff was Dori
Yigal Alon was not Chief of Staff in his day, nor was he an archaeologist. He was the commander of the Palmach!
The chief of staff and archaeologist was Yigal Yedin (Suknik).
The rest of the comment is not worthy of comment.
Kudos to Dr. Rosenthal
my father
Anyone who finds zero content in anything is probably...a CEO in a government office!..maybe Olmert's? Because it corresponds to zero in reading comprehension..maybe change the bullets? Or take courses in basic understanding...the bullets are included!!
As said - everything is political.
And, as usual, Olmert is to blame...
D. Peretz - many words and zero content.
If you could condense your tedious article into a few sentences, it might have had some meaning, but after I took energy pills and anti-nausea pills and managed to finish reading it, I learned: presidents and spirit - and burned on the surface of the sea.
The reaction before me is absolutely unnecessary and it continues the scorn of people who deceive themselves or are just cheaters, in any case the contempt in this reaction indicates a person who not only does not want to change, but is also willing to stand up to those who want to change crooked government arrangements!!
This time Rosenthal pointed the arrows to the right place and I completely agree with the diagnosis!! We must not forget that it starts from the top and we will not forget how Olmert reacted with disrespect in the Lebanon war when the Katyusha meters put a million and a half residents into shelters when it was in Olmert's power to prevent the shooting (by stopping the unnecessary rejection bombing which mainly helped Hizbullah!). The same disrespect is evident in the entire government system when This is about the "small" citizen (that's how they see the citizen who pays their salary) !! And who backs Olmert? The left, of course, so God forbid Bibi doesn't rise! You can't avoid it..behind every major failure in the country is ultimately a crooked leftist who, for one reason or another He will explain to you why this is not the right time!!
In doing so, of course, I do not absolve the right from action when they reach ministerial positions (and I mainly mean the National Union, which I hold) even though I have already disappointed with them as Minister of Housing, not to mention Lieberman as Minister of Transportation.. with them because he "understood" the contractors too much and was wrong in my opinion He gave more areas for construction in Tel Aviv when at that time about 120000 square meters were empty and had already been built!! Apparently he didn't ask) Lieberman was disappointed because in an interview with him he said that there was nothing to be done about the traffic accidents. Melamed wrote a car and dozens more like him who could pour some kind of understanding into the minister's ear!
Here, although I am against the left, I brought two right-wing people as a disappointing example! And here came the point that Rosenthal raised that they do not consult enough before making fateful decisions for the future.. a kind of indifference that prevails in all government ministries when it comes to the health and safety of the citizen as if it is a marginal and negligible thing and not the main thing!! And this will continue because the ministers do not feel a direct threat to their position and do not fear the judgment of the Israeli public, which is known to be unresponsive as in other western countries..there is no real pressure from the public, only the internal party pressure is businesslike and only those who reach the position of minister understand this apparently (this is how I get the impression from the outside ) and all the plans he prepared (if any) fade away in the friendly atmosphere that prevails in the government .. and go put a sewer pipe on the agenda!
Therefore, my conclusion is that a person outside of politics should be appointed as a minister in the positions they want to promote... the most recent successful example is the Minister of Justice Friedman!! Environmental quality outside of the political system that would be acceptable to environmental organizations and other groups in the country and that would be completely non-political preferably with a degree and understanding of the environment such as an ecologist for example the same topic was collected by Asaf Rosenthal that would be structured to work in a team and not be afraid to ask when other areas come into the picture... such as solutions that require an understanding of electronics and computing And more!
And most importantly.. that he should not be the main thing but the role he plays! Do you know someone like that in politics? And it's not by chance because that's the only way politicians can advance...by increasing their own value and this can only happen if they put themselves in the center!! This is the paradox in the structure of the existing political carousel!
Dear Dr. Yakar, you received almost a thousand words and you were not able to provide a concrete example that the minister disregards the environment or that the Nature Conservation Authority is not doing its job and that its work is only measured financially. I, for example, do not think this is true - I think that in order to preserve nature and nature reserves, the reserves must be developed - at the level of routes, fencing, visitor centers, and also - supervision, cleanliness, safety and more. This is also nature conservation. By the way, I agree that the punishment for environmental offenses is not severe enough, which hurts enforcement. I also don't understand what the objection is to collecting entrance fees to the reserves - it's not that the CEO receives dividends, as far as I know it's a state authority. And somehow the activity of the authority must be financed - either through everyone's taxes (ie - the government budget) or through the taxation of travelers only (ie - entrance fees). Also tired of the snobbery towards military personnel. Sometimes a different perspective doesn't hurt and don't forget that our first Chief of Staff (Yigal Alon) was later an archaeologist - one of the most senior people the country knew (excavated the citadel). In short - I understand that you are nervous and angry, maybe because you didn't find a job as a director of a national park or something like that - as mentioned, you didn't give examples. It's a bit of a shame that a site like "Hidan" gave it a reason - it seems you don't know too much.