With some activists claiming that Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman was exacting political revenge on organizations that had criticized her policies, a Knesset committee learned she did not have the authority to cut funding
Zafrir Rinat. Jun 4, 2025
The Environmental Protection Ministry’s decision last week to slash all of funding to environmental organizations in Israel was made without authorization, it emerged at a Knesset committee on Monday.
The Knesset Interior and Environment Committee was critical of the ministry’s conduct and called on Minister Idit Silman to reverse the decision, saying it would “harm organizations that engage in activities critical for all segments of the Israeli population.” Silman was invited to the meeting but did not attend.
The ministry notified environmental groups Thursday that they would not receive the 11 million shekels ($3.1 million) allocated to them, citing budget constraints. The organizations expressed surprise at the decision, noting that the money comes from the Cleanliness Fund, which the ministry oversees. Some activists claimed that Silman was taking political revenge on organizations that had criticized her policies.
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The Cleanliness Fund’s money does not come from the general budget but from payments made by local governments for the right to use landfills, and is supposed to be used for environmental purposes.
During the committee discussion, which was called by MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu (Yesh Atid), the head of the Knesset environmental caucus, it emerged that the fund had in January approved 11 million shekels for the organizations. The ministry never asked the fund to reverse its decision, rather four months later issued a unilateral statement saying it was blocking the funds from being allocated.
It also emerged on Tuesday that, for reasons unknown, the minutes of the fund meeting authorizing the allocations were never published, although the minutes from the fund’s next meeting were.
Stelian Gelberg, the ministry’s deputy director general for planning, told committee lawmakers that the ministry was forced to change its priorities to ensure that there was money to cover its core mission. He said that funds from the general budget that would have covered the part of the environmental organizations’ activities involving the postwar rehabilitation of northern Israel was never allocated.
Gelberg added that the ministry would bring the funding cancellation up for further discussion.
However, it was unclear how this would be done, since the fund voted unanimously in favor of supporting environmental organizations, and the ministry does not control a majority in the fund’s board. Although the fund is headed by an Environmental Protection Ministry official, its board also includes officials from other ministries and local authorities as well as a public representative.
The fire in the Upper Galilee last year.Credit: Fire and Rescue Service’s northern division
Ido Mor, the Finance Ministry’s representative with the fund, told lawmakers there had been no change in the budget that justified canceling the fund’s decision.
“The Environmental Protection Ministry’s budget has increased this year from last year. I’m not aware of any budgetary decisions concerning the north or the south that have been made since the discussion on the Cleanliness Fund,” he said, emphasizing that the money in question is not “the Environmental Protection Ministry’s allowance money.”
Amiad Lapidot, who represented the public on the fund’s board and belongs to the environmental organization, called the ministry’s decision “illegal.”
Elad Hochman, executive director of the nonprofit Green Course, sharply attacked Silman, saying that she was trying to present environmental organizations as left-wing as a reason to deny them a budget. He asserted that the groups represent all Israelis.
Dror Boymel, deputy CEO of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, added that Silman “decided out of her own personal considerations to harm the environmental organizations even though they are the ministry’s best partners.”
MK Yakov Asher the committee chair, called cancelling the budget “unfair and illogical.”
“The committee is not supposed to manage the Environmental Protection Ministry’s budget. I call on the minister and the director general not to delay allocating the budget to environmental organizations,” he said.
He added that if the ministry believed it acted properly, it should bring the issue up for discussion in the Cleanliness Fund.
Lahav-Hertzanu said it appeared the ministry simply did not want to allocate the funds. “Perhaps there is a political vendetta here, because it is not clear what professional consideration justifies a decision not to allocate 11 million shekels from a ministry that has half a billion shekels,” he said, addressing ministry officials, “You’re gatekeepers, but right now you are acting in violation of the law.”