While preparing a summary of field observations, news of the passing of Pinia Amichai was published: let us begin with that, and leave the species lists for future publications.

Recently, environmental issues have been pushed even further off the public debate stage in the country, and even the most urgent among them receive either no attention or, at best, brief news items in the media. The manner of coverage, and at times also the distorted facts, means that sometimes it would have been better if they had been pushed aside from there too: The environmental policy in the country is a disaster, whose effects extend beyond its borders. The state not only fails to deal with environmental threats, it itself causes them. Dealing with snakes which we have discussed many times illustrates this in miniature, and of course there are examples on different scales: while developed countries invest enormous resources in household consumption and waste reduction, the Ministry of Finance decided to fill the valleys of the country with disposable utensils. At a time when the harm caused by the meat industry is recognized around the world, recently a new record was set in Israel in terms of the number of animals imported for slaughter. In the race to spread vipers throughout the country, state authorities are leading by a significant margin, and we are trying to gather data and also address the impact on additional species: more on this and more below.