Israel’s Foreign Investment Protection Regime in View of Developments in Its Energy Sector

Abstract

This article discusses Israel’s BITs regime and policy and analyzes its central features. It argues that time has come to use BITs as a tool to attract FDI to the country, in particular to the energy sector. It shows that until now, Israel has concluded BITs mainly as a means to protect Israeli investors in developing and transition countries. The article argues that this policy needs to change to keep up with current trends in International Investment Law and on the background of the important developments over the last few years in Israel’s energy sector. It describes the long saga of the regulatory changes in relation to the natural gas sector, ever since the discovery of huge offshore gas fields, including the Supreme Court’s rulings on the changes of the tax regime and on the stabilization clause, and analyses its impact on the investment climate based on original data.