Hundreds of Israelis surf against gas rig in Guinness record bid
HERZLIYA, Israel: Hundreds of Israeli surfers in black skull- and- crossbones shirts took to the waves yesterday in what they said was a recordbreaking protest against potential environmental damage from offshore gas development.
Organisers said 992 people, among them athletes and actors, paddled out and held hands to form a circle opposite Herzliya, promoting their demand that a planned gas rig be relocated further from Israel’s Mediterranean coast.
A slogan on their shirts read: “Don’t poison us.”
Israeli authorities say the new platform poses no environment or health threat.
Yesterday’s event would be submitted to Guinness World Records for recognition, organisers said.
Guinness currently lists a 511- person circle of surfers off Huntingdon Beach, California last year as the world-record ‘surfing paddle- out’. — Reuters