Visit to Israel

(From left to right) Director of the IOPC Funds, Gaute Sivertsen, Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg and IOPC Funds Claims Manager, Chiara Della Mea.

From 1 to 3 March 2022, the Director, Gaute Sivertsen, travelled with Claims Manager, Chiara Della Mea, to visit Israel for various meetings with government officials, the 1992 Fund’s focal point for the incident in Israel, and the Fund’s lawyers.  Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this was the first face-to-face visit to the country since tarballs were found along the Israeli coastline in February 2021.

They met with the Director of the Marine Environment Protection Division, Rani Amir, and officers from the Division in charge of the response operations in order to discuss the latest developments in the incident and the best way to submit claims for compensation arising from the incident.  A meeting was also held with the Director of the Port and Shipping Authority of the Ministry of Transport.

The Director then met with the Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg and its Director General, Galit Cohen. The Minister thanked the Director for the help and cooperation offered to Israel after the incident.  During the meeting, the Director took the opportunity to express his appreciation to the Israeli government representatives for the excellent collaboration provided to the IOPC Funds in handling the incident.

Further information on the incident in Israel is provided in the online incident report.