Why should it be left in the ground? Because it's bad for the environment (along with coal and fuel oil, she says) and also because it's possible to feed Israel's energy appetite with renewable sources. Case in point, she notes: Even Morocco is using renewable energy to provide electricity to two cities.

In an angry tone, she takes umbrage: What has been done in Israel over the past decade to advance these issues? So a bit of unsolicited advice to the new shadow environment minister for a movement counting its eggs before they've hatched: Ideology is a wonderful thing but do some thorough research before spouting off. Start with your friends on the ticket, Orit Farkash Hacohen (No. 15 on the Blue and White party's Knesset slate), the former head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority.

Farkash could tell Haimovich how delusional it is to believe that renewable sources can be the main provider of energy, at least in a reality where solar panels can efficiently convert only 20% of the 1,650 effective sunlight hours we have in a year into usable energy and a technological solution for storing excess solar energy still hasn't been found.

Moreover, the electricity industry currently produces nearly 17,000 megawatts; and if renewable energy sources only account for around 7% of the country's needs, it is only because the regulatory obstacles put in place by Farkash during her time as Electricity Authority chief – during which she prevented the government from reaching its stated objectives of 5% renewable energy by 2014 and 10% by 2020 – were bypassed. Haimovich, it turns out, is screaming bloody murder while the main obstacle to progress on renewable energy is sitting in her own party.

In all fairness, it must be noted that Farkash – a classic symbol of the bureaucratic oppression of elected representatives, which seeks to control innovation through countless bureaucratic regulations – wasn't the only roadblock on the path to "planting" solar fields across the country. Israel's Planning Administration, unlike in Morocco, must take into consideration dozens of organizations that oppose solar fields due to concerns for wildlife and wind turbines because they pose a danger to birds.

On what side of the equation will the aspiring environment minister fall – the love of animals or the desire to take their natural habitats in order to capture the wind and sun? And we haven't even discussed the IDF's needs to train on land and in the air or the importance of an untouched desert to maintain ecological balance or the Bedouin and their flocks.

Haimovich should be cheering Dr. Assaf Eilat, the new head of the Electricity Regulatory Authority, who has discarded regulations to push solar energy forward in accordance with directives issued by supervising Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz. As for the natural gas, meanwhile, it looks like her party won't reverse the progress that has already been made. The question is, what will Haimovich do with a vision for the environment that has already been nipped in the bud?

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After "getting nothing but crap from her," Gabbay had no intention of being nice. He essentially began preparing his ambush the moment Isaac Herzog stepped down and Livni "asked to replace him as opposition leader," in his words.

An hour later, she hit back. "What I've been hearing is only me, me and me," she said at the press conference she convened – an odd claim from someone who since 2007 hasn't said much beyond "Me, me and me!"

Those who were offended by Gabbay's chosen course of action certainly forgot the refrain "Don't be kind to the cruel," just as Livni has forgotten virtually everything bequeathed by the founder of Revisionist Zionism, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, whose doctrine she has all but shunned.

For Livni, all means are justified; her predominant trait is serial disloyalty. She is a woman who betrayed her constituents. She paved her way into the hearts of Likudniks with the slogan "Tzipi Livni: A name that's an institution ['mossad' in Hebrew, a reference to her work in the Mossad intelligence agency in the early 1980s]." The Livni name also recalls the storied careers of her parents, "Little Sarah" and Eitan Livni, who were prominent members of the prestate Irgun militia.

Seven years later, the brilliant newcomer, who promised them she had entered politics only to eradicate the perilous Oslo Accords, spit in their collective faces when she helped Ariel Sharon abrogate the party referendum over his planned disengagement from the Gaza Strip and then moved forward ("kadima") with him to his newly formed Kadima party.

She betrayed then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when, two days after the Winograd Commission submitted its interim conclusions about the Second Lebanon War, she declared at a press conference that "resigning is the right thing for him to do." Champions of governmental quality who fleetingly believed in her integrity were stunned when just a few weeks later – after it became obvious that she lacked support within Kadima to replace Olmert as prime minister – she again convened a press conference to retract her call for Olmert to step down.

She betrayed Kadima after Shaul Mofaz was elected party chairman, leaving the party with millions of shekels in debt to establish Hatnuah.

"A party is just a platform," she told the antiquated rubes among us who still believe in ideology.

Livni helped spearhead the law to shut down Israel Hayom, coordinating her steps with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes in exchange for favorable coverage in his newspaper – yet has the gall to allege "corruption" in Case 2000.

Now then, who will join her? Yair Lapid, who has called for a "different type of politics"? Moshe Ya'alon, who as IDF chief of staff said he needed extra-high-top paratrooper's boots to defend himself against "the snakes"? Benny Gantz, who is painstakingly avoiding anything that could taint his pristine image? Time will tell. What we do know is that in this messy and public divorce, Gabbay adopted the Rabin legacy by branding his adversary with that immortal epithet of "tireless schemer."

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For the most part, declarations of love and friendship by national leaders are suspect. Remember Charles de Gaulle's response to David Ben-Gurion, who praised France as "Israel's greatest friend" – "France has no friends and no enemies. France has interests," the head of the republic decreed. But the Czech Republic is a different story; it is a sister nation.

There is no way of knowing how the 1948 War of Independence would have ended without the aid that only then-Czechoslovakia provided to Israel by sending weapons and training paratroopers and other combat soldiers and pilots, and sending combat aircraft. Czech aid played a key role in Operation Nachshon (the Mauser Karabiner 98k became known locally as the "Czech rifle.")

Such comradeship and love is sealed in blood. Czechoslovakia, the first victim of Nazism, was betrayed by Britain and France, who believed that they could make peace with the axis of evil, and was torn away from the Sudetenland by the disgraceful Munich Agreement. The Czechs internalized the lessons of the war. In an interview to Haaretz in 2002, Zeman said that Hitler was the biggest terrorist in the world in the 1930s, and no one should have negotiated with him then, just like no one should negotiate with terrorists today.

It is clear to the Czech Republic – unlike other countries – that the Palestinians, who waged war against the Jewish population, have no right to return to the State of Israel. The Czechs have learned from experience: The German minority there that joined Hitler were deported after the war is now demanding to come back.

A small country is taking a determined stance against anti-Israeli sentiment in Europe. During Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009), when the Czech Republic was head of the European Union, it defined Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip as defensive rather than offensive. After the ill-fated protest flotilla to Gaza in 2010, the head of the Czech parliament expressed solidarity with Israeli democracy and a commitment to fight Hamas terrorism out of the understanding that "we in the Czech Republic could find ourselves in the same situation."

The Czech Republic voted against the Palestinian Authority being accepted into the U.N. as an observer nation. And now, 50 years after Jerusalem was reunified, the Czech Parliament has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and has promised to relocate its embassy. They are on our side. They have learned firsthand what happens when countries align themselves with an axis of evil out of weakness. Who understands better than the Czechs the pointlessness of the idea that giving up territory will lead to peace?

The day the Czech president was here was also the fifth anniversary of the passing of beloved Israeli singer-composer Arik Einstein, who sang about Israel's identification with Prague in 1968. The partnership between two small states who have experienced betrayal runs deep.

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The urban legend that holds that sewage flows freely through the streets of Arab towns and cities has long been a lie. While it is true that in the past, outdated cesspools typical of the unplanned construction common in the Arab sector did not contain the sewage, by the 18th Knesset, which governed from 2009 to 2013, the sewage infrastructure in the sector had been replaced, thanks to unprecedented government funding and loans.

Once the new sewage infrastructure was set up, sidewalks, traffic circles and vegetation were quick to follow. All Israeli citizens have a right to the infrastructure their communities require. Yes, up until the last decade, the state was to blame for the neglect of the Arab communities, but so too were the Arab community leaders, who for their own reasons, chose not to collect property and water taxes from their constituents.

In May, Israeli financial daily The Marker interviewed the recently retired head of the Administration for the Economic Development of the Arab, Druze and Circassian sectors Aiman Saif in a piece headlined "Bibi [Netanyahu] is good for Arabs." In the interview, this senior Arab official spoke of Netanyahu's work to increase the state budget for the Arab sector. He lauded the government's 2015 decision to allocate between 12 billion and 15 billion shekels [$3.3 billion to $4.1 billion] to Arab communities. While Saif did note that many in the Arab sector were uncomfortable with what they said were offensive comments from members of Israel's coalition government, including from Netanyahu, Saif said that at the end of the day, he left his position "with a deep sense of satisfaction that here, the government is acting to integrate Israeli Arabs [into society]."

One need only look at the numbers to understand the vast efforts to bring about civil equality: The government has allocated 350 million shekels ($96 million) toward assisting weak students, with a comparable amount going toward the Druze sector, which as a result now has the highest matriculation rate in Israel. In Arab communities, the matriculation rate has increased from 57% in 2015 to 65.9% in 2017. A decade ago, there were very few community centers in Arab communities; now, there are dozens. Also a decade ago, billions of shekels were allocated toward multiyear plans for the development of Arab Bedouin, Druze and Circassian communities, and billions more were allocated for the economic and business development of those sectors, including to improve transportation and roads as well as create tourist infrastructure. All of this information can be found online. All one needs to do is look and more importantly, want to see it.

Israel is in the midst of a sweeping and natural process of integrating young Arabs into Israeli society; in hospitals and pharmacies, the information technology sector, academia and in our courts and government offices.

One can understand why the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee would want to conceal the truth. Those who accuse Israel of apartheid naturally fear that once exposed, the truth will prove their allegations as at best empty at and at worst incitement. What is difficult to understand is why, alongside the enactment of the nation-state law, the government has not published the data on the realization of civil equality in the Arab sector.

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While this is clearly a form of aggression, the newest battlefront was completely absent from the media headlines and did not lead any of the news broadcasts.

Don't people understand that this is our water?

And when I say "our" I mean all of us: citizens of Israel, Jews, non-Jews, neighboring nations, residents of the Middle East, and all living things. The one thing we all have in common is that we all need water to survive. No living creature can survive for long without water; for humans, the absolute limit is about six days.

The security prisoners are supposed to be driven by ideology, aren't they? But what is there to say about the ideology of deliberately wasting water in a drought-stricken corner of the world? Don't they understand that if we don't have water, then Jordan won't have water either and neither will their Palestinian brethren? Could it be that they simply don't care?

Water is a resource that is in short supply. Since the 1970s, we have been warned by various international bodies, including the United Nations, that a looming water crisis threatens the entire globe. Currently, more than a billion people around the world do not have access to safe, fresh water.

When the water system in Cape Town, South Africa, was on the verge of collapse, someone suggested dragging an iceberg to the dried-out city and using the melted ice to replenish the supply. Ultimately, however, the crisis was averted when the residents took responsibility and reduced their water consumption by 50%.

The Middle East is undergoing a protracted drought. In Israel – a water powerhouse that expertly desalinates and reclaims while also rationing water – the average monthly water consumption per capita is about 10 cubic meters. Every time a celebrity spokesperson pleads with us to conserve water, it seems we manage to cut our consumption by another 10 or 20%.

In Jordan, one of the driest countries in the world, the average monthly water consumption per capita is about 6 cubic meters, and in the Palestinian Authority, it is closer to 3 cubic meters. There is no water to waste.

So how can it be that the average consumption for a security prisoner is a whopping 21 cubic meters per month?

The global water crisis requires cooperation and partnerships between countries, certainly on a regional level. Israel supplies Jordan with more water than stipulated in the 1994 peace accord, particularly during the severe shortage of 2009. This gesture has contributed immensely to the warm relations between Israel and Jordan. Beyond supplying Jordan with water, Israel regularly assists Jordan with water conserving technology, advising Jordan on climate-appropriate agriculture and helping Jordan focus on crops that require less water. Other Arab countries look at Israel's steady cooperation with Jordan and also seek Israel's help in conserving water.

In Israel's security prisons, which double as a hothouse for Israel hatred, this cooperation between Arab states and Israel is not viewed favorably. While their friends are busy trying to annihilate us with fire outside the prison walls, they are trying to dehydrate us from inside. We need to turn off their terror tap.

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Ireland is "not impressed by the oppression of the Palestinians and the way they have been treated like dirt in their own country," in the words of Irish Senator Terry Leyden. Their country? Based on the criterion for an "occupying heir," Ireland is essentially British soil, which ruled it for hundreds of years – no?

Ireland cannot "stand by and watch the destruction of an entire population." Really, an entire population? The one invented with the creation of the PLO in 1964, whose flag is actually the flag of Greater Syria – from its rule under Emir Faisal of Iraq – before the French took it? Or the population in Gaza, whose leaders treat their people like a crime syndicate holding hostages? And what is Jordan in the eyes of the Irish, whose population is 80% Palestinian?

In Ireland, 90% of the citizens are Christian – so what don't they know? Forget for a moment that the land promised to Israel in the Bible and the numerous times the land was conquered and plundered from us throughout history. Let's discuss for a moment the "occupying" settlement in Hebron, where the forefathers and mothers of the nation of Israel are buried. The continuous existence of the city's Jewish existence, from biblical times to now, was only severed due to the horrific massacre perpetrated by the city's Muslims against the Jews. Are you sure the return of Jews to Hebron falls under the category of "cruel occupation?" That is to say, are you telling the butchers of Jews to carry on, because those who slaughter Jews will inherit their land?

Ireland has joined the supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel. Do they know over there that this boycott group was established around the time of the Gaza "disengagement," when Israel uprooted communities from Gaza and completely evacuated them? As a country that has experienced prolonged terror, perhaps Ireland understands what it means when terrorism is encouraged. In the 13 years since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, the coastal enclave has functioned as a refugee camp. For Hamas, it's more important to make the lives of Israelis miserable than to give their own people better lives. In its worldview, those who left Kfar Darom – itself a remnant of an ancient Jewish village – will ultimately buckle elsewhere under the pressure of slander and terror.

But why should we complain about the ignorance of the Irish or their hidden anti-Semitism, when their "concerned brothers" in Israel (former MKs, diplomats and former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair) have written articles beseeching Ireland to "support any legislation that will help enforce the distinction between Israel itself and the settlements in the occupied territories in the West Bank and east Jerusalem."

The Irish only want to listen to the Palestinian leaders, who claim Israel in its entirety is an illegal settlement; and they ignore the fact that these laws  mainly harm Palestinians, who will lose their source of income from those very same "occupied territories." During the next round of voting over the proposed law, Ireland will have to decide whether it supports terror, or would rather fill the holes in its knowledge of history.

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In your Berlin, a man took off his belt and in the middle of the street whipped a kippa-wearing passerby with it while shouting "Jew." It's sad to repeatedly discover that anti-Semitism negating the Jewish people's right to exist still bubbles beneath the surface of Germany's air of morality. Other revelations, like the vandalizing of the synagogue in Mecklenburg and the fact that Jewish institutions in your country need armed security, are one side of the same coin of hatred toward us. The other side is the demonization of Israel and the moralistic approach practiced by institutions in Germany and other European countries – while supporting radical left-wing organizations and defaming my country and its defense forces.

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy believes the process of demonization, which aims to paint the Jewish state as a murderous entity, eases the sense of guilt many Europeans harbor about the Holocaust. In 2010, Lévy warned against the dangers primarily posed by left-wing ideological movements. You are undoubtedly cognizant of the anti-Semitic attitudes held by a significant number of your countrymen, as revealed through the dangerous testimonies collected by Tuvia Tenenbom in his book "I Sleep in Hitler's Room."

The gesture by your foreign minister, Heiko Maas, who posted a picture of himself wearing a kippah on Twitter – was touching. It was, however, weak. Your interview with an Israeli news outlet, to mark our 70^th year of independence, faithfully reflected how deeply responsible your government feels for Israel's security. With measured words, you explained it was not your country's job to attack the Syrian dictator; that your government prefers the terrible nuclear deal with Iran over the alternative; that the issue of Jerusalem should be discussed by the sides. This is insufficient.

You understand, commitment to our security does not mean you side with the Jewish people's right to the land for which Jews prayed over thousands of years in exile. Your Germany, which is not only encumbered by the yoke of reducing the Jewish nation by 6 million but by the multiples of their unborn offspring, cannot sit on the fence. Today, too, you can hear survivors recount how there, on that different planet decades ago, between the agonizing labor and gas chambers, Jerusalem was whispered in hushed tones. Can you, the representative of the generation of atonement, ignore their prayer?

You, the most powerful leader in Europe, a symbol to women like me, daughters of your generation, cannot. Your recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital would be an expression of support for Zionism, an act of historic justice. Moreover, anti-Semitic Islamist terror does not feed on fear; it cannot be defeated by placing armed guards at Jewish institutions. On the contrary, it is fed by those who reject the Jewish people's right to their eternal city. Decades of failure by the international community to establish peace in our region requires choosing a new path: The road to defeating terror and forging peace goes through support of Zion and recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. It's in your hands.

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The Egyptian celebration was also an opportunity for all in Israel who took part in the relentless war against Israel's gas framework deal that was finalized in 2016 to celebrate, believing that the discovery of Egyptian gas would end the controversial project to develop Israel's own large Leviathan offshore gas reserve and keep Israel's natural gas buried under the sea.

Since Israel's gas deal was approved in mid-2016, all the doomsday prophecies have been dispelled, one after another. The developers of Leviathan, Israel's Delek Group and the American Noble Energy, decided to invest $3.75 billion in addition to the billion they already invested. By the end of 2019, the gas from Leviathan will be flowing to Israel. In the meantime, the rights to Israel's neighboring Tanin and Karish gas reserves were sold to the Greek oil and gas company Energean, creating strong competition to tilt market conditions in the consumers' favor.

In addition, contrary to the pessimistic predictions, a massive natural gas contract worth $15 billion over the course of a decade was recently signed.  Egypt, it seems, still needs Israeli gas, despite its own vast reserves. It is no less than a win-win situation: The revenue generated by Israel's gas exports will give Israeli investors the capital they need to develop the local fields. At the same time, the flow of gas will pull Egypt out of the crisis that has been bogging it down since 2011. Egypt will also recommission the liquefaction plants that have been standing vacant for years to process the natural gas. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has hit a home run, as he described it.

Monday marks 39 years since Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement (March 26, 1979). Although a cold peace, sometimes even frozen, has characterized relations in recent years, this peace has secured strategic security for the State of Israel in an irrational and paranoid region. It is not too far-fetched to anticipate that long-term business, dependent on direct and intensive contact between individuals in Cairo and Tel Aviv, to contribute to thawing the frozen relations between the two countries.

The gas pipelines from Israel also provide power to Jordan's National Electric Power Company, our great neighbor to the east, following a deal signed in September 2016 worth some $10 billion over a 15 year period. Even with the Palestinian Authority, despite the bad blood between us, coordination on gas and energy is not a pipe dream. Moreover, regional connections with Cyprus and Greece, which have become international players along with us, will allow all of us to enjoy and maximize the benefits of our gas reserves.

I don't understand why the signing of the gas export agreement with Egypt, which will generate massive profits, of which 60% will be deposited directly into the state coffers, isn't being celebrated as a holiday for the economy and for peace. While the entire world recognizes the importance of Israel's massive gas discoveries, which contribute immeasurably to Israel's economic and diplomatic strength, the residents of the Jewish state itself have turned this treasure into a source of discord and contempt. Perhaps, after having lived in an atmosphere of dispute and harsh criticism for months and years, the opponents' arguments are nothing but sparks coming out of a fire of hate. They are incapable of feeling joy for the state or hailing its successes. But Israel is putting its foot on the gas and speeding toward peace. That is a fact.

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This grim forecast is supported by the Institute for National Security Studies in a report titled "Water and Energy Crisis in Gaza: Snapshot 2017."

According to the report, the "lack of clean water for domestic use and unsafe sanitary conditions pose a serious public health threat to the two million people living in the Gaza Strip. By now, large amounts of untreated wastewater have already crossed Gaza's borders and created additional repercussions for several neighboring communities in Egypt and Israel, with Israel at one point forced to close two of its beaches."

When unlimited drinking water flows from the taps in Ashkelon, just north of Gaza, it is too easy to accuse Israel of unjustly dividing this precious resource, as self-righteous Israelis, and Europeans, sometimes do. These voices continue to condescend, absolving the local leadership of any responsibility. But it is the Palestinian leaders who actually bear the blame for this disgraceful situation.

The fact is that the deterioration of Gaza's water aquifers is a perfect reflection of the deterioration of the Oslo Accords. It is not a military or diplomatic issue, but rather a refusal to take any responsibility for providing basic infrastructure that is essential for maintaining the most fundamental aspects of life – preventing disease and death. If only they dug sewer tunnels for the betterment of Gaza rather than terror tunnels to the detriment of Israel.

It very well may be that in their heart of hearts, at least as far as water is concerned, the residents of Gaza actually miss Israeli rule. In the days of direct Israeli administration of Gaza, Arabs had access to the same good water their Jewish neighbors enjoyed, coming from 1,400 local wells. The drilling of the coastal aquifer was supervised and the water was pumped with great care.

But then, in 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, and the water industry was left unsupervised. Unbridled drilling quadrupled the number of wells to around 6,000, with most being dug by individuals in crisis because Hamas authorities failed to provide the population with basic amenities. The lack of investment in a sewage systems resulted in the contamination of the water in the aquifers. Leaky pipes now lose around 38% of the water that runs through them, according to 2017 World Bank report. No one is even mentioning the notion of recycling waste water for use in agriculture and very little has been done to increase water supply through desalination.

Residents of Israel may grumble about the cost of water, but no one imagines the tap running dry. The Israeli authorities, caught off guard by the 2008-2009 water shortage, learned their lesson. They enacted educational and economic measures that significantly reduced domestic water use. They invested in wastewater purification and agricultural water reclamation that recycles almost 90% of wastewater, making Israel a world leader (Spain is next, at less than 30%). Finally, Israel built desalination plants that provide 70% of the water designated for domestic use.

The question whether Israel should rise above the terror and, despite facing a five-year drought itself, be generous with its water, is reminiscent of Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper. The ant, who slaved all summer, was well fed in the winter. The ant's generosity does not have the power to help the grasshopper. The most Israel can do is to bring the liquid of life to the border, where it will only be met with chaos and darkness.

But even if it were to receive the millions of cubic meters of water that it lacks, Gaza is ill-equipped to collect it. This colossal failure is shared by the Hamas leadership, which prefers rockets over desalination membranes, and the U.N. agency UNRWA, which, after 69 years, still can't manage to provide a third generation of Palestinian refugees the proper living environment, as it is required to do under U.N. General Assembly Resolution 302.

Unfortunately for its residents, as long as Gaza's leadership prefers to invest in Israel's destruction rather than in Gaza's independence, this situation is not likely to change.

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