“There is no question about it. You know how to talk, but we never did get the answers we asked for.” That is how Eitan Cabel, Zionist Camp member and chairman of the Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee, jokingly summarized his committee’s discussion about the distribution and benefits of the pending natural gas outline. Cabel was addressing the star witness of the Dec. 7 meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By that point, humor seemed to be all that Cabel had left. Together with the other opposition members, he had lost all hope of getting direct responses from Netanyahu, who sat before the committee by virtue of also holding the economic affairs portfolio for the sole purpose of “defending” the controversial gas outline.

The Knesset members had lots of interesting questions for Netanyahu, like the one by Zionist Camp's Shelly Yachimovich about why Netanyahu claims that the gas has yet to be extracted when the Tamar reserve has been producing gas for two years now. Those who expected him to actually answer such questions were deluding themselves. Netanyahu had no intention of falling into such a trap with the cameras rolling.

Netanyahu had walked into the committee room accompanied by an entourage of some 20 people, the most prominent being the incoming Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen. Yet, he had no plans to provide answers to the committee's questions from the get-go. He stayed on script and repeated his talking points, which focused on security and diplomatic arguments. He seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. Yachimovich was right when the following day on a Channel 10 morning show she said that there was considerable value also in the questions that were asked but remained unanswered.

The prime minister arrived at the committee after many long months of public and political debate over the gas outline. Israel has never faced an economic issue as complex as this one or one subjected to such intense media scrutiny. Opponents of the gas deal claim that it is nothing more than the theft and robbery of a public resource that belongs to all Israelis but Netanyahu is handing to the country’s gas tycoons as a gift. Although Netanyahu wants to see the gas deal approved, he has been forced to spend the past few months managing unexpected hitches, like the resignation of Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo, who opposed the deal. This setback was followed by the refusal of Shas Chairman and then-Minister of Economic Affairs Aryeh Deri to sign the deal, the only person with the authority to do so apart from Gilo.