"I am the small investor, and it is only thanks to me that there is gas and oil in Israel," is the slogan under which 500 oil and gas investors convened last night at the Ramat Gan Stadium. Their objective was to fight against the Sheshinski committee recommendations to retroactively raise taxes on oil and gas discoveries. Men, women, and children attended the event, including Forum for the Struggle of the Small Investor spokesman Zeev Yanay.
In addition to the collective protest, the event's organizers collected donations from participants to finance the battle "against the Sheshinski committee edicts and populist politicians like MK Shelly Yacimovich (Labor), who opposes the small investors."
Zvika Brodetzky was one of the prominent investors who attended the event. He told "Globes", "We are accused of accepting money from tycoons. This is really not true, and I am prepared to stand should-to-shoulder with people like Yacimovich against the tycoons for the sake of the truth. Everything that has happened in Israel's oil and gas industry is thanks to people like us, the small investor, and the truth must be told. I am going against Yacimovich in that she is trying to take away from us what we achieved thanks to each of our investments, and I am not prepared for that."
Brodetzky added, "I'm not worried by Sheshinski. He's a dead horse. He and [Minister of Finance Yuval] Steinitz are [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's puppets. In the end, Netanyahyu will get up and will be the savior of Zion, and the Sheshinski committee recommendations will be rejected. I am sure of it. I only care that another Sheshinski won't emerge to try to take from investors what they deserve."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 27, 2010
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