Chief Rabbi Ya'akov Ariel of Ramat Gan said Friday that balance has to be found between the rights of the people of Israel to the land of Israel's natural resources and compensating the company that found natural gas under the sea off the Haifa coast for its risk and investment. The field has been described as the biggest find in the world in the last ten years.
Interviewed by Arutz Sheva's Hebrew service, Rabbi Ariel said there is a precedent in the Talmud for the resources to belong to the public. At the same time, he noted that the government promised the company profits.