When part of a coastal cliff collapsed on Saturday, luckily no one was hurt. That’s because the rockfall occurred at Sidna Ali beach in central Herzliya, which the local council had already closed to the public after the government neglected for years to fund repairs.

Israel has 45 kilometers (28 miles) of soft kurkar cliffs, of which 22 kilometers (13.7 miles) have been earmarked for strengthening, as they overlook public beaches. The issue is not only a matter of environmental conservation: Two people have been killed due to cliff collapses over the past two decades.

Despite a 2010 government decision to protect the crumbling Mediterranean coastline, ministerial infighting and a massive funding gap are leaving the cliffs — and the public — at risk. With responsibility split between ministries that cannot agree on funding or authority, the collapse at Herzliya’s Sidna Ali beach serves as a stark reminder that while the sea is rising, the defense of Israel’s shoreline remains stalled by political and financial paralysis.

“The writing is on the cliffs,” said Ilan Lavi, CEO of the Mediterranean Coastal Cliffs Preservation Government Company, “and the cliffs are collapsing.”

When the government decided that it needed to protect the coastline in 2010, it split the responsibility into two parts.

The Mediterranean Coastal Cliffs Preservation Government Company was established in 2013 to construct 13 kilometers (8 miles) of protective infrastructure in the sea, such as breakwaters, to reduce the wave force at the base of the cliffs. It answers to the Environmental Protection Ministry.

Meanwhile, the strengthening of the cliffs on the land side was left to the local authorities, with funds to be provided by the Interior Ministry.

However, the Interior Ministry has not allocated any funds to the authorities in the past five years, the Finance Ministry is dragging its feet on a new budget for marine protection, and there are disagreements over whether all authority over the cliffs should be vested in a single body or remain split, with no overall coordination.

The Israel Land Authority has provided an NIS 360 million ($115 million) budget for a first tranche of marine protection, out of which NIS 330 million ($106 million) has already been spent. The Mediterranean Coastal Cliffs Preservation Government Company has built breakwaters and added sand to make the beaches deeper for 3.5 kilometers (two miles) of cliffs in coastal Netanya, and 800 meters (half a mile) in southern Ashkelon.

The money will run out in June.

Through the Environmental Protection Ministry, the company has requested the same sum for a second stage to fund a major breakwater........

© The Times of Israel