People do care

In “‘Natural gas can change our geopolitical status’” (November 27), your reporter quotes Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz as saying: “People sometimes don’t care about their brothers and sisters five or 10 or 20 kilometers away. Not in my backyard.” I was in total shock reading this statement.

I made aliya to Zichron Ya’acov nine years ago. I don’t think this statement could be made of any Israelis under almost any circumstances, and it certainly cannot be said about my fellow Zichronites. This fight against the gas platform is being waged for all residents of the coast, from Netanya to Haifa, and all citizens of Israel who visit the beaches, hotels and national parks along the coast.

The people in Zichron are some of the most involved and helpful people I have met, and they have great educational and scientific backgrounds. They have spent countless hours trying to find out the truth and argue for the safer solution of gas treatment out at sea.

I hope that in the end, preserving public health will prevail, even if it costs more. This is not hype. No one can deny that there are real health issues at stake for the Arabs in Fureidis, the Druse in Daliat al-Carmel, and the Jewish communities up and down the coast.

All of our communities have been fighting together for many months. Minister Steinitz should know better than to try to pit us against each other. JULIE BLOCH MENDELSOHN

Zichron Ya’acov The writer has a masters degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and was an environmental lawyer at the US Environmental Protection Agency.