#TeamEurope joins Israeli NGO Zalul to clean the Beit Yanai beach

 The EU delegation in Tel Aviv initiated the activity, conducted in cooperation with the Zalul environmental organization, which it supports financially, after learning about the massive contamination of Israel’s beaches following a huge oil spill.

“As soon as we saw the terrible images of black tar washed up on beaches along the coastline, we decided that we had to do something to help. Every summer our delegation organizes a massive beach cleanup, but this disaster calls for immediate action,” Ambassador Giaufret said. “There’s still a lot of work to do, but every effort helps. We’re grateful to our partners from Zalul for the important work they’re doing.” 

Youval Arbel, sea campaigns manager at Zalul, said: “The massive tar contamination in our beaches is one of the most severe ecological disasters we have ever seen. Hundreds of volunteers are working every day to remove the tar from the rocks before its toxic materials will be swept into the sea and hurt more animals. We thank the EU delegation in Israel for its support and we are certain that it will continue and help to advance Israel towards a greener future, based on renewable energies that don’t harm the environment.”

Protecting the environment is one of the EU’s top priorities. The EU puts a strong emphasis in its activities around the world, including in Israel, on preserving and cleaning beaches from waste, and the severe incident that has contaminated Israel's beaches in recent days is another, especially painful, reminder of the importance of these efforts.