MKs to Netanyahu: Stop gas price hike

Lawmakers from coalition, opposition sign petition against recent rise in gas prices, say 'we saw what can happen when public when public collapses under burden of government rulings'

Zvi Lavi|Published: 02.03.11 , 07:39

Sixty-three Knesset members from both the coalition and opposition signed a petition calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the increase in gas prices by lowering the excise tax.

The petition was initiated by MK Ronit Tirosh, whose Kadima faction launched a parliamentary campaign against the price hike.

It should be noted that the petition is a political move and is not biding. Members of the coalition who signed it recently supported the State Budget, which is based in part on an increase in gas prices.

The petition mentions that the price of petrol, which stood at NIS 5 ($1.35) per liter just two years ago, now costs NIS 7.29 ($1.97) per liter and has led to a rise in the cost of public transportation and electricity. This price hike, according to the petitioners, has mainly affected the lower socioeconomic classes and the middle class.

“The rise in gas prices, which followed an increase in cost of water, housing, basic goods, and municipal taxes has created an impossible situation, and there is no shortage of examples these days of what can happen when the public collapses under the burden of government rulings,” the MKs said in the petition.

“We call on the prime minister to listen to the public and to show sensitivity to their distress, and to cancel the recent increase in gas prices.”

Tirosh said the petition "crosses party lines," adding that it "does not come from a political place, but from a moral and humane one."