Ministry CEO does not arrive - committee meeting locked

Chairman Yisrael Eichler of the Knesset Public Inquiries Committee decided to lock the committee's hearing on huge fires and air pollution at waste sites around the city of Ashdod a few minutes after it began due to the absence of the director-general of the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

MK Eichler told the participants, "It was agreed with the ministry that the director-general would appear so that we would receive answers from the official authority. If he does not arrive, it's a waste of the hearing's time. I am afraid to think that the health of the residents of the south is less important than the health of the residents of the center."