Minister Silman responded to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request by Green Course, an environmental organization, by accusing the group of being a radical entity masquerading as an environmental advocate. She pointed to the organization's past participation in conferences addressing environmental impacts of Israel's military operations in Gaza, conducted alongside left-wing organizations and the Arab-majority Hadash party, as evidence of its alleged extremism.

Silman linked her criticism to her decision last year to freeze 11 million shekels in funding for environmental organizations, attributing the groups' opposition to her and the ministry to their depleted budgets. She referenced the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people to justify her position, stating that no funding should support organizations that show concern for Palestinians.

The contested data, which bears official ministry letterhead and covers the period from 2023 through January 2026, demonstrates a significant decrease in legal action. In 2025, only 34 cases were referred to the ministry's legal department, compared to 87 cases in 2023 and 65 in 2024. The number of indictments resulting from outsourced legal work declined from 30 in 2023 to 11 in 2024 and just five in 2025.

The ministry's formal response to the information request acknowledged that data gaps existed due to manual entry systems that could be inaccurate or incomplete, and officials stated they lacked sufficient resources to manually review certain files. Additionally, the ministry's legal staff decreased from seven positions filled in 2024 to five positions after May 2025. The Times of Israel reports that officials are currently reviewing the figures, and the ministry has declined to comment on the published data.