A few blogs have linked to a story on an Israeli company, run by an ultra-Orthodox Jew, which claims to have discovered a £3 billion oilfield in the centre of Israel and which is trying to raise £18 million to develop wells and extract the oil. The chup: founder Tuvia Lushkin says he 'based his search' partially on the Bible, specifically on Moshe's promise to Yosef (the tribe -- Menashe and Ephraim) at the end of Dvarim that the land will be abundant in "the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath... and for the precious things of the eternal hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof." He assumes this includes oil, and has named his company "Givat Olam" following the verse.
What The Guardian neglects to mention is that Lushkin has been drilling in Israel for 10 years -- clearly, Moses wasn't quite as specific about the location of the 'oil' as the Lubavitcher Rebbe was about the location of Joe Gutnik's 'diamonds.' He has made similar announcements in the past, so far without finding any commercial quantities of oil. But why ruin a good story?
(What I particularly like is the claim that Lushkin was "reticent" about talking to The Guardian about his religious inspiration, explaining that he fears the religious association could detract from the 'seriousness of the enterprise.' Sure... He knows perfectly well that without that quirk, there would be no story.)
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