On December 9 , 2014 , Akunis was appointed Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection . Akunis replaced Amir Peretz , who resigned from his post as Minister . The appointment , made by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office , comes a week after the massive crude oil spill in Israel 's Arava region . Akunis said that " it is the Deputy Minister 's intention to prioritize treatment of the ecological disaster in the south and to do all that is necessary to prevent the spread of the crude oil , and to prevent a health and environmental disaster . " Akunis ordered crews to raise the side walls of the dams that have been built in the Arava to prevent flooding . Thanks to the infrastructure that has already been built in the area , the risk that the oil will reach the Gulf of Eilat has significantly dropped . Akunis has instructed that the reserve remain closed as long as high values of pollutants are still registered in air quality tests . In the end of December , The government approved a NIS 17 million Environment Ministry plan to rehabilitate . According to Akunis , the NIS 17 million program will serve to treat the soils contaminated by the spill as well as help restore the wildlife populations damaged over the course of the event . As part of the plan , a special team will be appointed to evaluate the environmental impact of various Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company activities on both dry land and beaches . The approved plan also involves opening a closed Eilat beach on EAPC-owned property to the city 's residents and visitors . In January 2015 , Air quality tests found that there has been a 90 % reduction of pollution in Evrona
oil spill in Israel 's Arava region
2014 Israeli oil spill
Ofir Akunis