The 2021 Mediterranean oil spill was an

ecological disaster An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point distingu ...

which occurred in February 2021 along the

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eu ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Starting on 16 February 2021, dozens to hundreds of

ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...

s of

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

washed up on the beaches along a stretch of Israel's coast from Rosh Hanikra to

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

, following a heavy storm and unusually high waves.Zafrir Rinat, Almog Ben Zikri
''Oil spill off Israel's coast is its worst maritime pollution in decades, and cleanup "could take years"''
haaretz.com. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.''Oil spill from passing ship blackens Israel's Mediterranean shoreline''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

report via

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

website. 21 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021.Rebecca Hersher
''Mediterranean Oil Spill Injures Wildlife, Closes Israel's Beaches''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. 21 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021. Tar deposits also heavily impacted the beaches in south Lebanon. European Sentinel satellite photos showed 12 apparent oil slicks at various distances from the shore between 11 and 13 February 2021 according to

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

Government reaction

All of Israel's beaches were closed until further notice. The population was advised not to go swimming or to play sports on the beach, as exposure to tar could endanger health.Holmes, Oliver (22 February 2021)
''"It'll take decades to clean": oil spill ravages east Mediterranean''
The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2021. Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

visited the beach near the port city of

Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...

and announced that the Ministry of Environmental Protection would draw up a plan to clean the beaches.''Israel scrambles to clean beaches after Mediterranean oil spill''
dw.com. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2021. The Israeli military pledged to deploy several thousand soldiers to support more than 4000

EcoOcean {{Infobox organization , name = EcoOcean , logo = EcoOcean logo.png , logo_size = 250px , location = Israel , formation =2002 , founder = Weil family , type = NGO, Non-profit organization , pur ...

volunteers, who had begun clearing the beaches of clumps of tar. The Environmental Protection Ministry said that the pollution was due to tens to hundreds of tons of oil spilled from a ship or illegally dumped into the sea from a tanker and that they are working with European agencies to identify the ship responsible. Nine ships that would have been about 50 kilometers off Israel's coast on 11 February 2021 would be considered.

Environment and health

Numerous sea animals such as fish, turtles and seabirds were found washed up and covered with a black, sticky film. The entire ecosystem of the coast may have been damaged for decades. Cleanup will take months to years, officials said, at the estimated cost of tens of millions of shekels. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority described the maritime pollution as the worst natural disaster in years. The Tyre Coast Nature Reserve had approximately two tons of tar, much of which was hidden under the sand. The reserve is as an important nesting site for endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles. Many other damaged beaches in southern Lebanon are also important habitats for the turtles and other creatures. A young

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as the finback whale or common rorqual, is a species of baleen whale and the second-longest cetacean after the blue whale. The biggest individual reportedly measured in length, wi ...

about that washed up dead on a beach in the south of Israel, was found to have black liquid in its lungs. Numerous coral reefs on Israel's coast were covered with a layer of tar. According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, this endangers the existence of a rare sea snail that was recently rediscovered. Several volunteers taking part in the massive clean-up operation complained of malaise after inhaling toxic fumes and were taken to hospitals.

Investigations

According to the official Israeli investigation, the spilled oil originated from the tanker Emerald which was going from Iran to Syria.

Black Cube Black Cube (BC Strategy Ltd) is a private intelligence agency based in London, Tel Aviv, and Madrid. The company was founded in 2010 by former Israeli intelligence officers Dan Zorella (in Hebrew: דן זורלא) and Avi Yanus (in Hebrew: א� ...

private intelligence company said that the ship is owned by the Syrian Malah family via a complex structure of shell companies. The tanker was insured by the UAE-based Islamic P&I club, which “is solely used by Iranian ship owners that cannot find cover elsewhere” according to Lloyd’s List.

Gag order

At the request of the Environmental Protection Ministry, the

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Magistrates Court issued a gag order on 22 February: publications of the names of people or ships, ports, navigation routes or cargo that could lead to the identification of suspects were banned. The Israeli media described this as "irregular" while the environmental protection organization Adam Teva veDin warned of a loss of confidence in the government as a result of this measure. A representative from the environmental research center in Haifa accused the environmental ministry of failing to prevent such disasters and of a lack of transparency. The following day, the gag order was partially lifted, leaving only ongoing investigations under cover. On 3 March, Israeli environment minister

Gila Gamliel Gila Gamliel-Demri (; born 24 February 1974) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, Minister of Science and Technology, and also as a member of the Knesset for Likud. She also previously serv ...

said the oil had been spilled intentionally by a ship carrying it from Iran to Syria, calling it an act of

eco-terrorism Eco-terrorism is an act of violence which is committed in support of environmental causes, against people or property. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines eco-terrorism as "...the use or threatened use of violence of ...

; however, her claims were disputed by security officials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel oil spill, 2021

Oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

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