Green Criminology and Rhetoric of Public Opinion: Online Commenting on Gas Rigs Near Israel's Coast

ABSTRACT This study identifies the key themes in online commenting on news reports about gas rig placements near Israel’s coastline. We employed an inductive thematic analysis to study 1276 comments and three main themes emerged from the analysis: (a) views on protesting against the rigs; (b) criminal labels; and (c) dangers of nearshore rigs. Although the majority of the comments supported the protest against the rigs, there was no consensus. The commenters who supported the protest described the acts that lead to environmental harm as criminal, deviant and corrupt. They also criticized the Israeli government and considered capital-government relations as the driving mechanism to place the rigs near the coast. The discussion addresses the meanings of the themes in the context of green cultural criminology, rhetorical strategies, including politics of definitions and causes, the rhetoric of rectitude and rationality, domain statements, and Aristotle’s rhetoric framework (logos, pathos, and ethos).