Every so often, Egypt’s supply of natural gas to Israel makes the headlines. Most of the people involved in the deal have already been put on trial in Egypt, including former Energy Minister Sameh Fahmy. During former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s trial, he faced sharp accusations of being behind a dark and corrupt plot to sell Egypt’s natural resources off to private buyers. How surprising is that? There’s a lot of money in natural gas, along with passions, politics and complex international relations between the Israeli and Egyptian leaderships, both past and present. If we add the icy peace between the two countries to this mix, we find that big money could link powerful moneyed and government interests, even when they are otherwise divided by diplomatic and international disputes.
This week, on Sept. 10, the protocol of testimony to the police by the former chairman of the Electric Company Eli Landau was published for the first time. Landau was investigated regarding the gas deal with Egypt eight years ago, but only now has his testimony been revealed in full. It provides additional insight into an episode in which moneyed and government interests led Israel into an agreement that benefited them personally, rather than serving Israel’s future. In the natural gas deal, decision-makers led by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ignored many of the risks that hovered over Israel.
Egypt hasn’t been providing Israel with natural gas for the past year and a half. The agreement has since been annulled. In April 2012, Egypt’s national gas company announced that it was severing all ties between it and Israel’s EMG, after the gas pipeline in the Sinai was sabotaged on several occasions. The flow of gas from Egypt to Israel was actually stopped as soon as Mubarak was deposed.
The agreement with Egypt was signed in 2005. The cabinet member behind it was Binyamin (Fouad) Ben Eliezer, the minister of infrastructure, who was a personal friend of Mubarak. Ben Eliezer received the full support of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was vehemently opposed to signing an agreement with British Gas, which holds interests in the field off the Gaza coast, in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority. Sharon, due to his experience with the Palestinians, claimed that any Israeli money paid for gas extracted from that field would be used to fund terrorist organizations. People around Sharon took advantage of his personal enmity to convince him to sign the agreement with Egypt.
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