\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n The move to build more gas-fired power plants is part of the implementation of Government Decision 2282, approved in October 2024, to ensure energy continuity through 2040. It mandates building infrastructure for renewables mostly in the country\u2019s periphery, and for gas-fired energy primarily in the center, where most of the population lives.<\/p>\n Based on a report by an interministerial team led by the Energy Ministry that was never completed or published, the state decided that up to 13 gas-fired power plants would need to be built in six districts, created specifically for the project, and covering much of Israel, but that plans should be drawn up for 19 plants to encourage competition.<\/p>\n However, instead of defining exactly where those plants should be built, the government decision invited private entrepreneurs to negotiate with landowners and submit those deals to the fast-track planning committee for national infrastructure (known by its Hebrew acronym Vatal). Vatal will decide on the final candidates.<\/p>\n The Hefer Valley Regional Council oversees a narrow tract of land stretching from the Mediterranean Sea east toward the West Bank, near the Palestinian city of Tulkarem.<\/p>\n For the purposes of the power-station plan, the government has placed the area within \u201cDistrict 2,\u201d stretching from Hadera in the north to Rosh HaAyin in central Israel.<\/p>\n Within the Hefer Valley area alone, there are already three efforts to build power stations. The cooperative society that governs Moshav Beit Yanai has approved a proposal from Shamir Energy and forwarded it to Vatal. And the Mekorot water company wants a small power plant in the Emek Hefer industrial zone to support the expansion of a desalination facility.<\/p>\n In the neighboring Menashe Regional Council, two real estate tycoons have already finalized a plan for a 700-megawatt station and submitted it to Vatal.<\/p>\n \t \u201cAs a direct result of the lack of a national planning policy and the unbridled privatization of power station construction, an inconceivable and dangerous situation has been created in Emek Hefer: plans for the construction of four power stations, some of which are being promoted by private developers, within a radius of only 13 square kilometers (five square miles) near the seam line,\u201d said council head Galit Shaul in a statement to The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n Shaul warned that concentrating several gas-fired power plants in the Hefer Valley would create what she called an \u201cunprecedented environmental and health disaster,\u201d as well as a serious security risk because the stations could become targets for missiles, drones or anti-tank fire from Iran, Lebanon or terror groups in the West Bank.<\/p>\n \t The council\u2019s campaign against any gas-fired plants has angered many area residents, according to Erez Magal, who chairs Kibbutz Givat Haim Meuhad and voted in favor of a gas-fired power plant, seeing it as an economic opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s huge anger about the rhetoric from the council and the protest HQ, mainly organized by people outside of the kibbutz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Magal said that while the debate inside his kibbutz remained civil, the wider campaign had become personal, including the harassment of his 10-year-old son by children from neighboring communities at the regional school.<\/p>\n Ron Eifer, the Energy Ministry\u2019s head of sustainable energy, who also manages the electricity sector and represents the Energy Ministry at the Electricity Authority, said that currently, 10 gas-fired power plants supply around 70% of the country\u2019s electricity needs. At least two more will be chosen by 2030 from four already approved in an earlier planning round.<\/p>\n \t Eifer explained that at least half of the 13 more efficient plants in the current planning round would replace older, more polluting ones.<\/p>\n The aim, he went on, was to ensure that electricity supply kept pace with population growth, improvements in the standard of living, and developments such as the electrification of transportation and the creation of energy-guzzling data centers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Energy Ministry is doing everything it can to advance renewable energy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope we\u2019ll need fewer than 13 new gas plants by moving ahead faster with renewables and storage, but we can\u2019t bet on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Countering accusations that Vatal was considering projects on an individual basis, without a holistic vision, a spokesman said, \u201cVatal examines every infrastructure plan in relation to the space, the approved and promoted plans, environmental aspects that are examined in an environmental impact assessment, and additional parameters, so that the outlook is broad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
\t\t\t
\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t That\u2019s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.<\/p>\n So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven\u2019t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.<\/p>\n For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n Thank you, \t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F240526YA101-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tView of the Orot Rabin power plant in coastal Hadera from the Sdot Yam beach, central Israel, May 20, 2023. (Yossi Aloni\/FLASH90)\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/89585_kibbutz_givat_haim_moheed_PikiWiki_Israel-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tKibbutz Givat Haim Meuhad. (Heritage conservation outside the city, Pikiwiki, Israel, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-06-14-at-13.52.53-300x480.jpeg\")
\n\t\tThe Energy Ministry\u2019s Ron Eifer. (Shlomi Amsalem, Government Press Office)<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tWe can’t do this work alone.\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-4-200x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYes, I’ll join\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tYou’re a dedicated reader\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/334x334-200x200.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n