(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s new government will reexamine a deal to ship oil from the United Arab Emirates via Israel, with the energy minister contending it offers no benefits to the Israeli economy, the Haaretz newspaper reported.
The agreement was signed in October 2020 by the previous government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Environmental Affairs Minister Tamar Zandberg also opposes the deal, saying it could lead to severe ecological damage, the newspaper said on Friday.
Environmental groups have already mounted a court challenge against the agreement, saying it was approved without the previous cabinet’s authorization.
The deal was seen as a significant dividend of the countries’ year-old normalization pact, the first between Israel and a Gulf state. Israel’s state-run Europe-Asia Pipeline Co. and the Israeli-UAE Med-Red Land Bridge signed a memorandum of understanding to ship oil from the Gulf nation to Europe and Asia through a pipeline linking two Israeli port cities, one on the Red Sea and the other on the Mediterranean.
Access to the pipeline would allow the Gulf nation to reduce its use of the more costly and time-consuming Suez Canal route.
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