AN AMERICAN JEWISH GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION NEWSLETTER

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GERMANY EDITION
December 2014
IN THIS EDITION
CHRISTMAS & HANUKKAH Separate but connected. How? Read & find out.
ISRAELS JEWISH STATE LAW Is there a need to declare Israel a Jewish State?
EUROPE & PALESTINE Europe isnt doing the Palestinians any favors by seeming to
do one.
WHOS WATCHING THE STORE? No one when it comes to an anti-Israel and antiSemitic conference.
ISRAEL & NATURAL GAS = PEACE? It might be a game-changer.
Dear Friends:
As I put this edition to bed let me wish my Jewish readers a bright Hanukkah and my
Christian friends a very Merry Christmas. May only good things come your way in 2015.
In piecing together this edition I have opted not to include an article about the upcoming
Israeli election which, no matter how it turns out, will have a dramatic effect on the
situation of Jews around the world and, for that matter, the whole world itself. At the
moment the situation is so muddied and confusing as to who will be in what party and
which parties will be in coalition with which over parties, that trying to simply explain it is
just not possible. The election itself will not take place until March 17. Thats a long way
off and what seems definite at the moment may just evaporate in the next few weeks. In
January Ill try to see if I can get together some sort of reasonable explanation of how
things are going and pass it along to you.
But for now, lets get on with the news

CHRISTMAS & HANUKKAH

Both these holidays come near the end of the year. In the Christian West, Christmas by
far overshadows Hanukkah. There are many more Christians than Jews so their
holiday, given its religious and secular importance, just outweighs what is available for
Jews. Many Jewish parents go to great lengths to make sure that Hanukkah is not lost
to their children.
Given the necessary separation for Jews, there is, however, a relationship. My former
AJC colleague Rabbi A. James Rudin, an important voice in interreligious relations
penned a piece for Echoes, The Opinion section of TheBostonPilot.com, a noted
Catholic journal. Entitled, Connections between Hanukkah and Christmas, Rabbi Rudin
has written, The eight day festival of Hanukkah that begins on Tuesday evening Dec.
16 has incorrectly been called the "Jewish Christmas" because the two holidays both
emphasize light and are celebrated during the same dark days of winter.
However, even though the festivals are very different in the messages they convey,
there are several noteworthy connections between Hanukkah and Christmas.
During Hanukkah (the Hebrew term means "Dedication" and is also the word root for
"education") special prayers are said each night of the holiday as the colorful candles
are lit in the synagogue and home candelabrum or menorah, gifts are exchanged and
caloric heavy and cholesterol laden potato pancakes fried in oil along with jellied donuts
are eaten. Gifts are exchanged within families and among friends and beloved holiday
songs are sung.
Hanukkah commemorates the struggle in the land of Israel between 168-165 BCE when
Judah Maccabee's Jewish guerillas, after three years of fighting, defeated the much
larger and better-armed Greco-Syrian army of Emperor Antiochus IV, a tyrannical ruler
who reigned over a part of Alexander the Great's former empire. Antiochus prohibited
the study of Torah, ritual circumcision, kosher dietary laws, Sabbath observance and
the practice of Judaism itself. A first-hand account detailed Antiochus' brutality:
"The Books of the Torah which the men of Antiochus found, they tore into pieces and
burned. Wherever a book of the covenant was found in anyone's possession, or if
anyone respected the Torah, the decree of the king imposed the sentence of death
upon him. Month after month, they dealt brutally with every Jew who was found in the
cities...In accordance with the decree, they put to death the women who had
circumcised their children, hanging the newborn babies around their necks; and they
also put to death their families as well as those who had circumcised them..."
When Judah recaptured Jerusalem, he demolished the statues of Zeus and other
idolatrous symbols of Antiochus' rule inside the Holy Temple and rededicated the
sacred area, the Temple Mount, to the service of God. Tradition teaches that the small
quantity of olive oil Judah found was sufficient to fuel the Temple's Eternal Light for only
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one day, but the oil lasted eight days; an event described as a "miracle."
Many historians agree that Hanukkah represents an early struggle for what we today
call "religious liberty" or "freedom of conscience." The holiday is an annual reminder that
every faith community has the right to maintain its customs, ceremonies, traditions, and
teachings, and no ruler, government, or regime has the right to dictate what people can
and cannot believe.
That is why Hanukkah's message is as fresh and meaningful in our time as it was more
than 2100 years ago. Today there are forced religious conversions that involve helpless
kidnapped young children, physical persecutions including beheadings based upon
one's religious identity, and numerous "religious wars" rage in the Middle East, Africa,
Myanmar and in other parts of the world. Antiochus' evil spirit remains a modern threat
to the hard won principle of religious freedom.
Some historians also believe that without the Maccabees' victory and the preservation
of Jewish religious life in ancient Israel, Christianity may not have emerged 200 years
later with its taproots deeply embedded within Judaism. The only scripture Jesus knew
was the Torah that the Maccabees helped preserve in their battle against Antiochus'
malevolent decrees. The Jewish Holy Temple in Jerusalem mentioned in the New
Testament was saved from desecration and re-dedicated to God a century and a half
before Jesus was born.
But in an ironic twist of history, the two books of the Maccabees that relate the
Hanukkah story do not appear in the Jewish scriptures, but they are part of the Roman
Catholic canon. In addition, the New Testament records that Jesus, similar to other
Jews of his time, celebrated Hanukkah: "It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem;
it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon." (John
10:22-23.)
As Jews and Christians celebrate our distinctive December festivals of faith and light,
perhaps we should all pause and remember Judah Maccabee's long ago victory over
the forces of darkness, despotism, and death.
RABBI RUDIN IS THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE'S SENIOR
INTERRELIGIOUS ADVISOR AND THE AUTHOR OF "CUSHING, SPELLMAN AND
O'CONNOR: HOW THREE AMERICAN CARDINALS TRANSFORMED CATHOLICJEWISH RELATIONS."
Some relationships are more interesting than others. I think this one is pretty much at
the top of my list. Without sounding too Pollyanna, if followers of each religion could
stress the similarities and relationships with the others rather than the differences
maybe religious violence and hate could be greatly reduced.
In any case, thanks Jim, its a great article.

ISRAELS JEWISH STATE LAW

Its not often that much of American Jewry is so openly in opposition to any piece of
Israeli legislation. By and large, the mainstream of American Jewry feel that Israelis
know what is best for them and that they, the Americans, should mix out. If there is
critical feeling it is usually expressed quietly and directly. Jews, like most members of
any group, abhor the washing of dirty linen in public.
There are exceptions and the recently proposed Jewish State Bill is one of those.
Haaretz recently reported, At issue is Israels "nation-state" bill, which if passed by the
Knesset would enshrine Israels status as a Jewish state into law. Proponents say the
bill would reinforce the Jewish character of Israel, but opponents charge that it would
jeopardize the states democratic character and undermine Israels Arab minority.
Most major American Jewish groups weighing in on the debate are against it.
It is troubling that some have sought to use the political process to promote an extreme
agenda which could be viewed as an attempt to subsume Israels democratic character
in favor of its Jewish one, the Anti-Defamation League, the first group to speak out
against the bill, said in a statement November 24, a day after the Israeli Cabinet
approved a version of the bill.
American Jewish groups against the measure outline two broad reasons for their
opposition: the fear that it is ammunition for anti-Israel and anti-Jewish forces already
feeding off the aftermath of Israels war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and recent
tensions in Jerusalem; and the fear that Israel is drifting from its democratic character,
particularly in laws and practices that target minorities and women.
The proposed Jewish state bill is ill-conceived and ill-timed, Kenneth Bandler, the
American Jewish Committees spokesman, told JTA in an email.
Abraham Foxman, the ADLs national director, said the bill provides cover for Israels
enemies.
Its an unnecessary debate, it has spillover and provides fodder, he said. What comes
out of this? Nothing.
Other major groups opposing or expressing reservations about the proposed law
include the Reform and Conservative movements, the National Council of Jewish
Women and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella body for Jewish public
policy groups.
The Zionist Organization of America is among the few U.S. Jewish groups that have
taken a stand in favor of the nation-state bill.
Non-Jewish citizens live and are welcome in Israel, but the Israeli state, its institutions,
laws, flag, and anthem reflect the history and aspirations of the people who founded it
with their labor, resources and blood, ZOA President Morton Klein said in a statement.
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The U.S. State Department has said that it expects final legislation to continue Israels
commitment to democratic principles.
In Israel, the opposition to the bill is led by President Reuven Rivlin. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu backs the law although he has yet to settle on final language
and has pledged to bring it to the Knesset for a vote as early as next week. [He didnt]
As a basic law, the law would have constitutional heft. Its backers say giving Israels
Jewishness a constitutional underpinning is increasingly necessary given attempts to
delegitimize the state.
The State of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people, Netanyahu said
November 23. It has equal individual rights for every citizen and we insist on this. But
only the Jewish people have national rights: a flag, anthem, the right of every Jew to
immigrate to the country and other national symbols. These are granted only to our
people, in its one and only state.
Such talk induces uneasiness in American Jews who over decades have been invested
in an Israel in which Jewishness and democracy have successfully melded in equal
parts, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, told JTA.
Let us strengthen Israels democratic foundation, Jacobs said, noting in an interview a
recent proliferation of attacks on minorities in Israel as well as statements from Israeli
politicians elevating the Jewish character of the state over its democratic values. If
anything needs strengthening, thats what needs strengthening, he said, referring to
democratic values.
U.S. Jewish groups generally confine their criticism of Israels government to issues of
status that affect Israels Jewish citizens, like the treatment of the non-Orthodox
religious streams and discrimination against women. They avoid criticism at least in
public that would feed into attempts by Israels enemies to depict it as racist and
exclusionary.
This bill is an exception, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the executive vice president of the
Conservative movements Rabbinical Assembly, said in an interview, because it has
broader implications than a single decision involving the Palestinians that might draw
controversy.
This law speaks fundamentally to the democratic nature of Israel, she said.
Schonfeld said Jewish-American sensitivities already were sharpened because of a
series of legislative initiatives in Israel that would limit the rights of the non-Orthodox
and practices that discriminate against women, like segregation on some buses.
Particularly galling, she said, was a law that a ministerial committee maintained this
week that criminalizes marriage by non-Orthodox rabbis.
These laws that violate religious freedom are building blocks to anti-democratic
legislation, Schonfeld said.

The nation-state law also has drawn criticism from liberal Jewish groups that in the past
have not hesitated to target what they see as discriminatory Israeli policies. Among the
groups are Americans for Peace Now, the New Israel Fund and J Street.
Rachel Lerner, a J Street vice president, said American Jews have internalized
democracy and equal rights for all as Jewish values in part because of the protections
they have been afforded in the United States.
Weve had equal rights because this country is so accommodating, so theres a lot of
sensitivity toward that, Lerner said.
Several major groups, including the Orthodox Union and the Jewish Federations of
North America, have yet to weigh in. A source close to Jewish Federations said the
umbrella body wants to see a final draft of the bill before pronouncing.
Netanyahu reportedly is seeking ways to include in the bill an emphasis on Israels
democratic nature and its commitment to equal rights.
The JCPA in its statement called for postponing Knesset consideration of the bill and
urged that the final draft make clear that Israel remains committed to equal rights.
If theyre going to do this bill, it should be incredibly clear that there is no intention to
diminish the rights of citizens who are not Jewish, JCPAs president, Rabbi Steve
Gutow, told JTA.
Schonfeld said the law is the wrong solution to whatever anxieties are driving its
proponents.
This is a time of great anticipatory anxiety among Jews, and it calls for signal courage
and not to give in to fears, Schonfeld said. This seems to be legislation motivated by
fear and not by courage.
Not being an Israeli myself I am not going to voice an opinion on the subject except to
say that there has never been any question in my mind that Israel was established to be
a homeland for the Jewish people. Why anyone would even raise the question doesnt
make any sense to me. Of course, the reasons have to do with internal politics and the
dispute was one of the reasons the current Israeli government coalition recently fell
apart with the need now to have new elections.

EUROPE & PALESTINE

In the last few months Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has mounted a new
campaign to get the State of Palestine recognized. He has floated up (and pushed) the
idea of a (Times of Israel) .plan for a series of unilateral moves in the coming weeks:
joining international treaties; applying the precepts of the Fourth Geneva Convention to
the Palestinian territories, purportedly banning settlement activity under international
laws of occupation; acquiring a UN Security Council resolution recognizing Palestine
on the 1967 borders and prescribing a timetable for Israels withdrawal; and, finally,
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asking UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a comprehensive vision on the

international protection of the Palestinian people.
One might even sympathize with his inability of getting much accomplished for his
people if not for the fact that the vast majority of his long list of failures were of his own
making. The plan to approach the UN Security Council and attempt to by-pass the
involvement of Israel is another act not only doomed to fail but, in addition, has the
genuine possibility of adding to the frustration of his people. The move to the Security
Council is doomed before it even begins.
What is most surprising is that many European countries, and even to a degree the EU,
is at least half-heartedly, going along with it.
I have always thought that one of the most sensible and informed people I have known
in my Jewish career is my AJC colleague Rabbi Lawrence (Larry) Grossman. He does
not write (publish) a lot but when he does it worth reading. He recently wrote a piece for
AJC which I think you should read. It is titled Europe is Torpedoing the Palestinian
State. It follows::
The architects of the 1993 Oslo accords, upon which the Middle East peace
negotiations have been based wisely, barred unilateral action by either Israel or the
Palestinians, and insisted on a permanent agreement reached through negotiation.
They recognized the fact that only a mutual understanding between the two parties
could bring lasting peace. Yet much of Europe is today enamored of the idea of
recognizing a state of Palestine in the absence of negotiations, leaving Israel, which
actually administers much of the territory that state aspires to, out of the discussion.
This attempt at imposing a solution unrealistically raises Palestinian expectations, and is
a recipe for failure.
By encouraging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbass misguided strategy
of leapfrogging over the negotiations stage with Israel in pursuit of a theoretical
statehood, the Europeans reinforce the Palestinian view that they need not compromise
and can somehow get their state on a silver platter. Israelis, meanwhile, having been
excluded from the decision, will feel abandoned by European countries, embittered
about their treatment, and less likely than ever to make on-the-ground concessions to
the Palestinians.
The latest phase of the anti-peace process came on December 2, when the French
National Assembly, the lower house of that countrys parliament, overwhelmingly
passed a resolution urging recognition of a state of Palestine. Like similar resolutions
passed by the legislative bodies of Great Britain, Ireland, and Spain, it is not binding on
its government. Sweden is the only major Western European state so far to actually
recognize Palestine. Nevertheless, these parliamentary moves reflect public opinion
a recent survey in France showed some 60% in favor of recognition and build up
the momentum of Palestinian unilateralism.
Indeed, more steps in this direction are in the works. The European Parliament is
scheduled to discuss this month forging a joint European position on the issue;
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Belgiums parliament will soon vote on a measure to recognize Palestine; French

Foreign Minister Fabius has suggested a two-year deadline for diplomacy after which
France would unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state; and the Palestinian Authority is
planning to bring a statehood resolution before the UN Security Council after the first of
the year, when the new makeup of that body could make it easier for the Palestinians to
get the nine votes (out of fifteen members) it needs, so that only an American veto will
stand between Israel and an internationally recognized Palestine.
Israel has long accepted the need for a Palestinian state, and has, over the years,
engaged in peace talks with Palestinian leaders most recently under the sponsorship
of American Secretary of State Kerry to reach a two-state solution. Israel is prepared
for further territorial compromises, but comes to the negotiating table with its own set of
requirements that premature European recognition of a Palestinian state cannot
possibly ensure.
Israel insists on guarantees of its own security. These must take into consideration not
only the horrendous bloodshed that brutal regimes and Islamist extremists are inflicting
elsewhere in the region, but also the recent upsurge in terrorism against Israelis. The
continuing power of Hamas, which controls Gaza and refuses to even consider
recognizing Israel, has also to be taken into account in any peace deal, since the
Palestinian Authority will have no more control than it does today over Hamas even
after an agreement with Israel is reached.
Israel is also surely justified in resisting the return of the hundreds of thousands of
descendants of Palestinians who left in 1948 and are currently kept in refugee camps
and not allowed to build new lives in their countries of residence. Palestinian insistence
on the right of return is meant to put an end to the Jewish character of the Jewish
state. This is why Palestinian leaders are so averse to recognizing Israel as a Jewish
state, a designation that remains valid in fact, whether or not Israel officially passes
legislation enshrining it.
An independent Palestine can only flourish if Israels needs are met through the process
of negotiation. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel put it: Unilateral recognition of a
Palestinian state would not move us forward on the way to a two-state solution.
Both Larry and Angela both seem to make a lot of sense.
WHOS WATCHING THE STORE?
When something adverse happens right under the noses of a person or a group,
Americans say Whos watching the store? in other words, Who is responsible?
Ben Weinthal writing in The Jerusalem Post reported, Germanys Family Ministry and
the Berlin Senate are engulfed in an anti-Israel scandal because of funding for a threeday conference involving a group that hosted a speaker calling for the end of Jewry and
claimed that Zionists are racists.
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The three-day Canaan conference titled Trialogue with Israel and Palestine started on
Monday and runs until Wednesday. Critics charge the organization Cafe Palestine
Freiburg, which is participating at the conference, with stoking modern anti-Semitism.
An article in the mass circulation Bild newspaper wrote Cafe Palestine Freiburg would
prefer to wipe Israel off the map.
The anti-Israel critic Gilad Atzmon delivered a 2011 lecture for Cafe Palestine Freiburg
and called for a process of dismantling Jewish ideology. The Jerusalem Post observed
videos of the 2011 Cafe Palestine event with Atzmon, who said that Israel is worse
than Nazi Germany a remark that drew laughter from the audience.
The prominent German journalist David Harnasch, who has written about Israel and
modern German anti-Semitism, termed Cafe Palestine Freiburg Cafe Jew hatred. In
late 2013, the regional newspaper Badische Zeitung,which reports on the city of
Freiburg, quoted Joachim Bruhns, from the Socialist Initiative Forum, who described
Cafe Palestines co-founder Dr. Gabi Weber as a helper of neo-Nazis because of her
Cafe Palestine activities.
According to Bild, a spokeswoman for the Family Ministry said, Should our examination
reveal that an event hostile to Israel will take place with approved funds, we will demand
that the funds be returned and that the organization in the future not be supported.
Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committees Berlin office, said:
Whoever advocates a boycott of Israel cannot be a partner for peace... She called on
the Family Ministry and Berlin Senate to review their funding policies.
Frankly, its not the end of the world that such an anti-Israel conference took place. AntiIsraelism masking Anti-Semitism has been a lasting entity over the last half-century.
However, when German government money is involved supporting such an undertaking
as the conference mentioned above, the question should be raised about how this
funding came about and whether anyone raised the question about Gilad Atzmon.
While Atzmon is a Jewish born Israeli that does mean he is an acceptable speaker at a
German funded meeting. I quickly consulted Wikipedia (it took me 10 seconds) and
found out the following about him, His criticisms of Zionism, Jewish identity, and
Judaism, as well as his controversial views on Holocaust denial and Jewish history,
have led to allegations of anti-Semitism and racism from both Zionists and leading antiZionists.
10 seconds of research on the part of the Berlin Senate and the Family Ministry would
have precluded the necessity to raise the embarrassing question; Whos watching the
store?

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ISRAEL & NATURAL GAS = PEACE?

Its no great secret that the chances for a lasting peace between Israel and the
Palestinians are practically nil at this moment in history. Even the most optimistic
observers see continued violence given the current set of political and economic factors.
Change is not in the air at the moment. However, a look down the road at something
that might act as a game changer, namely natural gas, could be that element.
Stanley Reed and Clifford Krauss writing in The New York Times reported, Natural gas
is both a geopolitical tool and a target in Israel, where a newfound bonanza of resources
has the potential to improve ties with energy-hungry Egypt, Jordan and even the
Palestinian Authority.
But the linchpin of this diplomatic push is not an Israeli official, a Middle Eastern king or
an American ambassador. It is an oil company in Texas.
Noble Energy, the Houston-based company that runs the Tamar [natural gas] platform
and is developing another field nearby, has struck a series of deals in recent months to
sell gas from Israel to its neighbors, an export strategy encouraged by the Obama
administration to help ease tensions in the region. Both Jordan and the Palestinian
Authority have signed preliminary agreements in recent months, while Noble is in talks
to supply larger amounts of gas to Egypt.
Natural gas is both a geopolitical tool and a target in Israel, where a newfound bonanza
of resources has the potential to improve ties with energy-hungry Egypt, Jordan and
even the Palestinian Authority.
But the linchpin of this diplomatic push is not an Israeli official, a Middle Eastern king or
an American ambassador. It is an oil company in Texas.
Noble, which completed the development of Tamar last year for $3.5 billion, says that it
has found more than 800 billion cubic meters of gas off Israel. The finds would be
enough to satisfy current Israeli demand for about a century, greatly easing the
countrys need for imported fuels.
Noble is acutely aware of its surroundings. Half of Israels electric power now comes
from the natural gas that flows through Tamar, making the platform and an onshore
processing plant a tempting focus for rockets from Hamas or more distant enemies.
Security makes up about half the personnel on the Tamar platform.
The platform is a sitting duck, said Amit Mor, an Israel energy consultant.
While Israels gas consumption is growing fast, the domestic market is not large enough
to fully tap Tamars potential, much less develop a much larger field called Leviathan.
So Noble and its Israeli partners have focused on Egypt and Jordan as the nearest,
cheapest-to-reach places to export.

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As we learned more about the regional market and the need for gas of Israels
neighbors, that became the more attractive approach, said Binyamin A. Zomer, an
Oklahoman who heads Nobles operation here.
The Obama administration has quietly pushed the strategy. As United States officials
see it, the energy ties could further cement the fragile peace between Israel and its
neighbors, and perhaps offer Europe another gas source to lessen its dependence on
Russia.
With energy you are talking about something fundamental that really counts, says
Gideon Tadmor, chairman of Delek Drilling, Nobles partner.
While Jordans relations with Israel have been tense lately, the country has been a
receptive customer because it badly needs gas for its growing energy needs. Since
2011, Jordan, like Israel, has had its gas supply disrupted, as militants in Sinai
repeatedly attack a major gas pipeline from Egypt.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton talked to King Abdullah of Jordan about
Israeli gas in 2011. Amos J. Hochstein, a top energy diplomat at the State Department,
approached Noble Energy in early 2012 about making a deal with the Jordanians,
according to American officials with knowledge of the meeting. Formal negotiations,
involving company executives as well as Israeli, Jordanian and American officials,
began that year at the Royal Court in Amman.
But the talks dragged on for two years with negotiators shuttling between hotels on
Jordans Dead Sea coast and the Hilton Hotel at Londons Paddington Station. In a
volatile region, King Abdullah risked drawing the fire of domestic critics if he bought fuel
from Israel.
United States officials tried to smooth the process. They provided funding to train
Jordanians in gas regulation. The American ambassador to Jordan, Stuart E. Jones,
invited negotiators to continue talks in the relaxed atmosphere of his Amman residence
when talks got tense elsewhere.
Noble helped break the impasse by striking a separate deal with two Jordanian mineral
companies, Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine. The companies will buy about $500
million of gas over 15 years from Tamar.
The private contract paved the way for the Jordanian government, which wanted a deal
that would legally be with the American company, rather than Israel. Seven months
later, Noble signed a preliminary agreement to sell gas from Leviathan to Jordan for
electric power, worth an estimated $12 billion.
Despite the benefits, such deals will most likely face criticism when tensions between
neighbors rise. For instance, a large contingent of lawmakers in the Jordanian
Parliament last week moved to limit purchases of Israeli natural gas. So far, the
government appears unshaken in its desire to buy the gas

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Jordan is one of the latest deals for Leviathan. In January, Noble and its Israeli partners
reached an agreement to supply a power plant under construction in the West Bank by
a Palestinian group.
Industry experts say that Noble will need more long-term commitments to support the
expense of Leviathan. The project is expected to cost as much as $8 billion, and the
Jordan deal accounts for only about 9 percent of the gas.
The most likely anchor customer is Egypt, a huge and growing market. Today, two gas
export facilities on the Mediterranean are sitting largely idle. The Egyptian government
is blocking exports in order to meet high domestic demand and stave off power
blackouts.
This year, Noble reached nonbinding agreements with the owners of both of these
facilities BG, the large British producer, and a joint venture of Italys ENI and Spains
Gas Natural Fenosa to supply their facilities from Tamar and Leviathan. As part of
the deals, the gas would also probably flow to the domestic market in Egypt.
Egypt has a very severe energy and power crisis right now and they are really
desperate for Israeli gas, said Leslie Palti-Guzman, an energy and geopolitical analyst
at Eurasia Group, the New York-based political risk consulting firm. But there is also a
lot of opposition from public opinion.
Participants in the continuing talks on Egypt, which usually are held in London, say that
many details need to be worked out. But Egypts new military president, Abdel Fattah elSisi, is leaning toward buying the Israeli gas, according to oil executives and
independent experts. Ms. Palti-Guzman said it would help protect Mr. Sisi from political
resistance if the deals appeared to be between companies, not governments.
Noble and its partners are also looking for alternatives. They have commissioned
designs for a floating liquefied natural gas facility, which would allow them to move gas
to the global markets.
And domestic businesses are taking advantage of the new gas. One Israeli company,
Dorad Energy, recently built a $1.3 billion gas-fired generating plant near Ashkelon. On
a typical day, the plant meets about 10 percent of Israels power demand. The company
is planning to add another next door.
My dream is to sell electricity to Egypt, Jordan and even Syria, said Moshe Cohen, the
plant manager, as he showed a visitor the site, including a hole in the street left by a
rocket from Gaza. Israel has the ability to provide a lot of energy.
I apologize for including such a long article. However, the discovery of enormous natural
gas deposits off the coast of Israel must eventually have a dramatic effect on its political
situation as its benefits are slowly felt by its citizens. In prior years with Israel being
devoid of natural resources, especially oil, there was a constant feeling of being at the
mercy of the Arab countries that surround it. It now looks as if those nations will become
customers rather than military enemies. For Egypt and Jordan especially, both countries
that have no natural energy resources themselves, their connection to Israel must
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improve. Could the Palestinians be next?

Of course, this dramatic change could auger negative results (more and bigger wars,
etc.) but one can hope that the changes will be positive and lead the participants in the
area toward peace rather than destruction.
One can hope!
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See you in January.
Again, my best wishes for a bright Hanukkah, a joyous Christmas and for all, health and
happiness in 2015.
DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be reached at
dubowdigest@optonline.net
Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.typepad.com

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