In a shock decision and amid forecasts of rising temperatures and flooding, Israel’s National Security Council has canceled its work on climate policy just four years after establishing a pair of units focused on the issue.

The Shakuf investigative site published on Tuesday what it said was an internal memo written by the deputy chairman of the National Security Council informing staff that the NSC’s Climate and National Security Forum and the Climate Intelligence Forum had ceased to operate as of April 1.

Without explanation, the memo said work on national emergency events would still continue.

The two climate forums were established during the Bennett-Lapid government in 2022 and were headed by Victor Weiss, a widely respected figure in Israel’s environmental world, who resigned in February.

They brought together representatives of ministries and other government bodies to address issues such as food and water security and the continuity of national infrastructure, as the Middle East warms faster than the global average.

The Climate Intelligence Forum monitored the effects of climate change on Israel’s neighbors and the potential resulting security threats.

The Climate and National Security Forum probed the impact of climate change on the defense sector, where global warming is expected to affect everything from aircraft runways to outdoor training schedules.

“One of our challenges is the imagination,” Shakuf quoted Weiss saying last year. “People think about a heatwave and say, ‘It will be a little hot.’ But heatwaves affect the economy, agriculture, infrastructure, as well as the security and rescue authorities. Think about all of........

© The Times of Israel