Schools Reopen in Kiryat Ata After Unusual Pollution Incident

Good Morning, Israel · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · 7:44

Episode 16 · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · 7:44

Schools Reopen in Kiryat Ata After Unusual Pollution Incident

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0:007:44

1. Schools Reopen in Kiryat Ata After Unusual Pollution Incident
2. Israeli School Trip Tragedy Raises Questions on Demining Subcommittee's Effectiveness
3. Kfar Saba Mayor's Wife Suspected of Obstructing Investigation
4. Israel's Attorney General Approves Probe of Far-Right MK for Alleged Officer Assault
5. IDF to Establish Over 800 Polling Stations for Upcoming Election
6. Israeli PM Netanyahu Demands Prosecution of Naza Film Participants

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Maya

A fifteen year old was killed and more than twenty others hurt when a munition exploded during an Israeli school trip.

Daniel

And now the Knesset's demining subcommittee is facing hard questions about how often it actually meets.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Tuesday, October thirteenth. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Daniel, start with what happened on that trip.

Daniel

A group of Israeli students was on a school outing when a munition exploded. A fifteen year old was killed, and more than twenty people were injured.

Maya

A school trip. That's supposed to be the safest day of the year.

Daniel

Right. And Israel has a lot of old ordnance in the ground. Former firing zones, old minefields, leftovers from past wars. Clearing it is a long running national project.

Maya

Which is where the Knesset comes in.

Daniel

Exactly. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, has a subcommittee on demining. It's chaired by Member of Knesset Nissim Vaturi, and according to reports it's held only two official meetings this term.

Maya

Two. In a whole term.

Daniel

That's the figure being reported. Vaturi pushes back. He says he's done extensive work unofficially, and that he secured funding for demining.

Maya

So his argument is, judge me on the work, not the meetings.

Daniel

That's essentially it. But there's history here. A previous report by the State Comptroller, Israel's official government watchdog, also flagged deficiencies in demining.

Maya

So the warning was already on paper.

Daniel

It was. And the question now is whether anyone acted on it in time.

Maya

What comes next?

Daniel

Pressure for the subcommittee to meet formally, and for answers on how a school group ended up near live ordnance. A family is burying a teenager. People will want accountability.

Maya

Now Haifa. We told you yesterday about benzene spiking near the Bazan refinery, and schools closing. There's an update.

Daniel

A good one, mostly. Schools in Kiryat Ata reopened today. That's a town just outside Haifa, on the bay, next to the refinery complex.

Maya

So the air's clear?

Daniel

According to the Environmental Protection Ministry, working with the Health Ministry, pollution levels are back to normal. Students and residents can go back to their routines.

Maya

And Bazan just carries on?

Daniel

No, and that's the new part. The ministry has halted maintenance work at Bazan's Gadiv plant in Haifa. That's where the abnormal benzene levels were detected on October tenth.

Maya

Halted until when?

Daniel

Until Bazan submits a detailed plan to prevent more emissions. The ministry wants continuous monitoring built in before any work restarts.

Maya

So the kids go back in, the repairs stay out.

Daniel

Exactly. And remember, that maintenance includes fixing damage the refinery took during the war. So there's a real tension. The plant needs repairing, but not at the cost of the neighbors' lungs.

Maya

To Kfar Saba, a city in central Israel, northeast of Tel Aviv. And a corruption case that keeps getting bigger.

Daniel

Police arrested Mayor Rafi Saar, his wife Meital Saar, and eighteen others. The allegations are bribery, fraud and money laundering.

Maya

Twenty arrests. That's not a parking ticket.

Daniel

No. Investigators are looking at suspicious cash transactions and possible rigging of municipal tenders. Police estimate the couple received hundreds of thousands of shekels.

Maya

And spent it on what?

Daniel

According to police, a lavish lifestyle. And the new allegation is about Meital Saar specifically. Police suspect she tried to obstruct the investigation before she was arrested.

Maya

Obstruction is its own charge, separate from whatever the original case turns out to be.

Daniel

Right. And these are suspicions, nobody's been charged yet. But for a city of Kfar Saba's size, it's a major blow to local government.

Maya

Staying with the law, and a lawmaker. Israel's Attorney General has signed off on investigating a sitting Member of Knesset.

Daniel

Yes. The Attorney General and the State Prosecutor approved a probe into Member of Knesset Yitzhak Kroizer, from the far right. He's suspected of assaulting a police officer.

Maya

Where was this?

Daniel

About two weeks ago, in Mitzpe Yericho, a community in the West Bank, near Jericho. There were clashes, and during them, a suspect accused of assaulting Palestinians escaped custody.

Maya

Wait. So the police had someone in custody, a lawmaker allegedly got physical with an officer, and the suspect got away.

Daniel

That's the sequence being investigated. Investigating a Member of Knesset needs that sign off from the top, which is why the approval itself is news.

Maya

Two weeks before an election, too.

Daniel

Right, and that's where we go next.

Maya

The I D F is setting up polling stations. A lot of them.

Daniel

More than eight hundred for the upcoming Knesset election. That's about a hundred more than last time.

Maya

Why the jump?

Daniel

Because thousands of troops are deployed in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Syria. Soldiers on duty still get to vote, so the ballot box has to go where they are.

Maya

Democracy by armored delivery.

Daniel

Pretty much. And commanders are being warned not to make political statements inside their units. The army wants to stay out of the campaign.

Maya

Now a film called Naza, and a sharp reaction from the Prime Minister.

Daniel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered an investigation into people who took part in the film. He wants them prosecuted for severe information security offenses and for defamation.

Maya

What does the film claim?

Daniel

Among other things, it pushes the claim that artificial intelligence decides on its own who the I D F strikes. That's the filmmakers' claim.

Maya

And Netanyahu's case against it?

Daniel

He says the film falsely defames Israel and the I D F around the world, and that participants may have breached classified information.

Maya

What does the I D F say about the A I part?

Daniel

It's already refuted it. The I D F says a program called Lavender is an analytical tool. It helps process intelligence. Commanders authorize every strike, not a machine.

Maya

So a human signs off, every time.

Daniel

That's the I D F's position. And the security question matters on its own. If people involved in the film leaked classified material, that's a criminal matter, whatever anyone thinks of the movie.

Maya

Something lighter to finish. Israelis have discovered Albania.

Daniel

In a big way. Israeli tourists to Albania went from about seven thousand a year to about one hundred thousand.

Maya

From seven thousand to a hundred thousand. Somebody's travel agent had a good year.

Daniel

And the governments noticed. Transport Minister Gideon Saar was in Tirana, Albania's capital, and signed a new aviation agreement. More flight options between the two countries.

Maya

Just flights?

Daniel

There's also an expanded intergovernmental cooperation agreement, aimed at business ties. The goal is better air links, more tourism, and closer economic relations.

Maya

Worth noting, a European country actively deepening ties with Israel right now.

Daniel

Right. Not every relationship in Europe is moving that way, so this one stands out.

Maya

Before we go, one thing to watch.

Daniel

Bazan's prevention plan. The Environmental Protection Ministry won't let maintenance at the Gadiv plant restart until it gets one, with continuous monitoring. Whether Bazan delivers, and whether the ministry accepts it, decides what happens on Haifa Bay next.

Maya

Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Daniel

See you tomorrow morning.