The Krayot Magistrates Court Wednesday fined the Haifa Chemicals fertilizer company NIS 584,000 (USD 128,000) for polluting the sea - the highest fine ever to be imposed in Israel for marine pollution.
The company's Haifa factory was convicted of pouring excessive amounts of polluting materials into the Kishon River, and from there into the sea a number of times in 2001 and 2002.
Judge Mordechai Argaman wrote in the verdict that "the accused is an economic body, and making a profit is its justification to exist.
The problem is that it increased its profits by repeatedly damaging sea water, violating all the permits it has received."
"The message the court must convey to the accused and to the entire public is that financial profit gained through offenses which harm the public's essential and important values, will not pay off," he added.
The company was already fined NIS 166,000 (USD 37,000) in the past for dropping sludge into the sea from its Haifa factory in 1988.