The decision will be cautiously welcomed by Leviathan’s stakeholders, US independent Noble Energy and Delek Group, although they will not be counting their chickens until the Knesset votes.
The Knesset, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition holds a one-seat majority, is due to return from its summer recess on 1 September.
Opponents of the gas plan have been vociferous with Shelly Yachimovich, a left wing Zionist Union member of parliament, saying ahead of the Cabinet vote: “The state has stopped acting as an authority and unburdened itself of its responsibility to its citizens, choosing instead to handle fictitious and submissive negotiations with the gas companies.”
She
