The Finance Ministry's accountant announced that Israel will receive 17 billion NIS in royalties from the natural gas deposits near Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu welcomed the news and said that this was "17 billion NIS which will go to education, health, the aged and Holocaust survivors. All this would have stayed under the ocean if those who opposed [ the state's agreement with private investors] had succeeded, but they didnt's succeed. We made sure they didn't succeed, as we are concerned for the state of Israel and its citizens."