An interceptor missile strike today on a fuel tank at the BN complex in Haifa brings to the forefront an old warning: It is impossible to continue to have a polluting, dangerous, and vulnerable petrochemical industry in the heart of Haifa Bay, especially in an era of regional war and climate crisis.
In retrospect, one could say that I predicted the danger. I am not happy about it. There is no satisfaction in seeing an old warning being reaffirmed in reality. Today, it was not a missile that directly hit the refineries, but rather an interceptor fragment that hit a fuel tank and an industrial building at the BZN complex in Haifa. Heavy smoke rose, but the fire services announced that the incident was contained, that there were no casualties, that there was no risk from hazardous materials, and that there was no danger to the public. The Minister of Energy also said that the production facilities were not damaged and the fuel supply was not disrupted. Still, anyone who knows Haifa Bay understands: the very fact that there is another attack on such a complex is the real story. (Reuters)
In the 1980s, when I worked as a reporter at the Haifa "Kelvo", I didn't come to cover the environment out of a preconceived ideology. I was a municipal reporter and a general reporter, I also handled resident complaints. But at a certain point, the calls started coming in. From residents. From professionals. From sources who knew something bad was happening in Haifa Bay, even if the establishment preferred not to see, not to hear, and especially not to act. That's how, almost by accident, I found my journalistic calling.
For years, I published investigations, testimonies, documents and articles about pollution and its health toll almost every week. I brought the residents' outcry. I brought studies that were buried. I brought warnings from experts. One of my headlines, which dealt with the connection between unusual pollution episodes and an increase in respiratory problems among residents of Neve Sha'anan, even made it to a Knesset debate. Even then, it was clear that there was a connection between heavy industry in the Gulf and the harm to public health. But instead of dealing with the findings, it was easier to evade, obscure, or demand that those who dared to speak up retract their statements.
In one of the comprehensive articles I wrote at the time, I also tried to warn against what almost no one wanted to imagine: an attack on an industrial facility or on tanks of hazardous materials during wartime. I mentioned the ammonia tank. I mentioned the possibility of a leak following a missile strike. The material was initially rejected by the censors, and only after a struggle was it approved for publication and turned into a series of five magazine articles. Today, when we see another attack on the ZAWN compound, it is hard not to think to what extent those warnings were not hysteria but a sober description of a real risk.
A government decision that is being lazily promoted
Since Government Decision 1231 of March 2022, the state has been promoting a move to halt petrochemical activity in Haifa Bay. The monitoring reports set a target of 2029, but the State Comptroller has already commented that this target was not anchored in the government’s decision itself. And the report published today admits that at least two major alternative infrastructure facilities are not expected to be operational before 2031, even if the official target of 2029 is still maintained on paper through “interim solutions.” In other words: even after all the warnings, even after the war, even after the damage, the procrastination is still here. (Government of Israel)
It must be said honestly: This is not just an environmental question. It is a question of public health. It is a question of urban planning. It is a question of democracy. And it is also a question of national security. As early as June 2025, an Iranian attack hit the BAZN complex, disabling the refining facilities and causing the deaths of three workers. Today, another event has arrived. Those who still insist on seeing these facilities as a “strategic asset” without admitting that they are also a strategic weakness simply refuse to learn from reality. (Reuters)
What is particularly outrageous is that this debate is presented time and time again as if one has to choose between livelihood and life, between workers and residents, between industry and health. This is a false dichotomy. Both then and now, the demand was simple: not to abandon an entire public in favor of the narrow interests of heavy industry and capitalists who hold positions of enormous influence. Haifa should not continue to pay for health, security, and quality of life so that others can buy time. Mayor Yona Yahav expressed himself a few weeks ago in "Kan" (see the article from X) that anyone who wants the BAZN to continue should spend time in the oncology departments of Haifa hospitals and see the excess morbidity they create. And indeed, from the 1980s until today, the owners have changed – then it was the state and today it is the Ofer family, the attitude of the authorities has not changed (in favor of the polluters and against the residents).
I hope that the current war with Iran will bring at least one positive result: a real acceleration of the transition to carbon-free energy. Not only for climate reasons, but also for reasons of national resilience. The Ministry of Energy itself mentions that Israel has a target of 30% renewable energy by 2030, and a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050; in an official document it published this year, it emphasizes that decentralization and diversification of energy sources improve the continuity of supply and Israel's energy independence, in routine and emergency situations. This is exactly the lesson: true energy resilience is no longer a giant fuel tank in Haifa Bay, but a more decentralized, cleaner, safer system based on electrification, solar energy, storage, and a decrease in dependence on polluting and concentrated fuels.
On a local or global scale, the problem remains the same: When a few control natural resources and vital infrastructure, the public pays the price. Sometimes it’s in polluted air. Sometimes it’s in systematic regulatory delays. And sometimes it’s in black smoke over refineries. I just hope we don’t need another blow, another report, and another “wake-up call” to realize that it’s time to close this chapter in the history of Haifa Bay and start a new one.
I hope these missiles will cancel the Catholic wedding between Haifa and the polluting factories.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- "The Ministry of Health confirms: Haifa leads in the number of lung cancer patients" as predicted by the Ministry of Health in the newspaper Kalvo, 13/3/87
- The Kishon River – Has 78 years of pollution come to an end?
- The State Comptroller calls for considering the removal of the polluting factories from Haifa Bay (1997, before the current reviewer overturned)
- Hanukkah holiday: severe air pollution from industry in Haifa and vehicles in the three major cities
- 1987 - The Ministry of Health confirms to Avi Blizovsky that there is an excess of lung cancer cases in Haifa, but the source was not investigated
