X-Nico

51 unusual facts about Israel


Arable land

Israel: Israel's land primarily consisted of desert until the construction of desalination plants along the country's coast.

Belarusian diaspora

A separate group of emigrants from Belarus were Belarusian Jews who have established significant communities in the USA and Israel.

Belaugh

According to records displayed in the church, the letter writer also added disapprovingly that, "The Steeple house of Belaugh St Peter stands high, perked like one of the idolatrous high places of Israel".

Belgian Resistance

In total, 1,612 Belgians have been awarded the distinction of "Righteous Among the Nations" by the State of Israel for risking their lives to save Jews from persecution during the occupation.

Ben Ammi Ben-Israel

Ben Ammi and more of his followers arrived in the ensuing months, settling in Dimona.

Ben Carter

Ben Ammi Ben-Israel or Ben Carter (born 1939), American founder and spiritual leader of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem

British-Israel-World Federation

At one time this organization enjoyed the patronage of members of the British establishment including HRH Princess Alice of Athlone, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Dysart, Lord Gisborough, and William Massey, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Elon Moreh

Eight times, the group tried to choose a plot of land to settle but the Israeli government under Yitzchak Rabin, then in his first term, prevented these attempts - arguing that the settlers' main aim was to secure permanent Israeli possession of the territory and that such possession would preclude any possibility of peace with Jordan or a Palestinian state.

Garin Torani

The original Garinim Toraniim began in development towns in Israel.

Gataka

Gataka, the scene name of the Israeli DJ Matan Kadosh, also famous for participating in psytrance trio Sesto Sento.

Georgians in Israel

Ethnic Georgians in Israel number around 75,000 to 80,000 which mostly include Georgian Jews.

Guy Barnea

Barnea was born and raised in Omer in southern Israel, the oldest of three sons and his brothers Nir and Or are also swimmers.

Hakhel

The ceremony performed at the Western Wall in 2001 was led by the President of Israel, Moshe Katzav.

In the twentieth century, however, it was revived by the government of Israel and by groups of Jews in other places on a symbolic basis.

Hapoel Rishon LeZion

Hapoel Rishon LeZion is an Hapoel sports club in the city of Rishon LeZion, Israel.

Henry Maundrell

Their circuit took them across Syria to Latakia, down the Syrian and Lebanese coasts as far as Acre, which they found in ruinous state save for a khan (caravanserai) occupied by some French merchants, a mosque and a few poor cottages.

History of the Jews in Pakistan

Developments in the Middle East peace process such as the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip led to the first high level meeting between Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers.

Igor Kipnis

Following his debut in 1959, harpsichordist, fortepianist, duo-pianist, and clavichordist Kipnis performed in recital and as soloist with orchestras throughout the world, including North, Central, and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Israel, and Australia.

Indians in Israel

Indians in Israel almost exclusively consist of Indian Jews who migrated there on formation of the modern state of Israel.

Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment

Among those interviewed are first, second and third generation members from kibbutzim like Degania, the flagship commune established in 1910; Hulda, once near collapse and recently privatized; Sasa, the first to be settled entirely by Americans and today Israel's wealthiest kibbutz; and Tamuz, an urban kibbutz founded in 1987 and located in Beit Shemesh.

Ir Ganim

The Lavan Valley is situated between Ir Ganim and Givat Massuah to the east and Moshav Ora to the west.

Israel, Palestine, and the United Nations

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, denounced the speech stating that Hamas was an internationally recognized terrorist organization that targeted civilians.

Israel's Department Store

Following the takeover of the store, Wilfrid Israel, who had run the business with his brother, emigrated to England, where he took up a research position at Balliol College, Oxford.

They were allegedly flying as a decoy so that another plane, which carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill, could land safely.

From there, he tried to establish contact with the German underground through Sir Stafford Cripps, Britain's foreign minister, and organized ship transports for Jewish children escaping from Europe.

Israel's Son

It was also released on their The Best of Volume 1, and used on the soundtrack to the western version of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.

Jerusalem Program

The task of Zionism is the consolidation of the State of Israel, the in gathering of exiles in Eretz Israel, and the fostering of the unity of the Jewish people.

The Jerusalem Program differed from the original Basel Program in which it shifted the goals of the Zionist Movement once the State of Israel was already established.

Judaization

Due to the cultural ties of Judaism with the Hebrew language, it can be alternately designated as Hebraization in regards to the renaming of geographic areas and personal names with Hebrew appellations, as has been the case with Jewish immigration and human settlement in Israel and Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Kåre Kristiansen

He opposed Israel's unilateral disengagement plan from the Gaza Strip, to the point of refusing an invitation to join in an event that also featured moderate Israeli politician and chief rabbi of Norway, Michael Melchior.

Keren Hayesod

The resolution adopted called on "the whole Jewish people", Zionists and non-Zionists alike to contribute toward the building of the Land of Israel through Keren Hayesod.

Kidron

Kidron, Israel, a small moshav near Gedera, which is named after the stream flowing through Kidron Valley

Melatef Umeshaker

Melatef Umeshaker is the debut album of the Israeli singer and musician Ivri Lider.

Menachem Oren

In 1949, Chwojnik emigrated, via Czechoslovakia and Austria, to Israel, where he had changed name to Menachem Oren.

Middle Eastern Empires

Naram-Sin quickly destroyed and dispersed the Sumerian rebels and also went on a vast campaign of conquest, taking his armies to Lebanon, Syria and Israel, and then to Egypt.

Military Rabbinate

More recently, it was placed in charge of dismantling of the cemetery in Gush Katif during the Gaza disengagement plan.

Political accusations against the Baha'i Faith

In one edition of the faked memories, Dolgorukov is said to have provided money for Bahá'u'lláh to build a house in Acre, but Dolgorukov died in 1867, before Bahá'u'lláh arrived in Acre.

Post-Zionism

Post-Zionism refers to the opinions of some Israelis, diaspora Jews and others, particularly in academia, that Zionism has fulfilled its ideological mission with the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948, and that Zionist ideology should therefore be considered at an end.

Refusal to serve in the IDF

In 2005, as a reaction to the Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, a group called "Mateh Chomat Magen" (the name referring to Operation Defensive Shield) published a letter with 10,000 signatures of soldiers who signed a petition saying that they would refuse to uproot and remove Israeli settlements.

Sabra and Shatila massacre

Notwithstanding the dissuading conclusions of the Kahan report, Sharon would later become Prime Minister of Israel.

Shdwan Battle

The Battle lasted between the Israeli battalion and the Sa'ka Officers which led to casualties in the Israeli forces which includes projection of 2 jets.

Socialist Zionists

Adherents of Socialist Zionism or Labor Zionism, a major ideological and political current in the history of Zionism and Israel

The MUJU Crew

Walls is a play which tells the story of two British teenage friends, one Muslim and one Jewish, whose relationship is turned upside down when the Jewish boy’s family move to Israel.

Two-state solution

Such occurred in 2005 when the evacuation of settlers and security personnel from Gaza was undertaken by the IDF, with many of the former settlers being re-settled in the West Bank.

Tzohar organization

Tzohar organization was founded by a group of rabbis from religious Zionism group, in order to be partners in shaping the Jewish character of Israel, from the dialogue and the search for common identity elements.

Valentin Kontridze

Israel, 25 October 2002) was a Georgian Jewish scientist, ophthalmologist, and eye microsurgeon.

Yavneh Olami

The organization, affiliated with World Mizrachi, runs educational programs that focus on pro-Israel advocacy, Israel connectivity, leadership development, and encouraging Jewish students to make Israel their home.

Yechiel Michel Epstein

Aruch HaShulchan he'Atid (Laying the Table of the Future) - a parallel work to Arukh HaShulkhan summarising and analysing the laws that will apply in Messianic times; this work became more relevant when Jewish farming communities were re-established in Israel, since many agricultural laws which apply only in Israel are covered in this work;

Yeshivat Ma'alot

The Yeshiva is named after Rabbi Dr. Ya'akov Herzog, son of the late Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog and brother of the late President of Israel Chaim Herzog.

Yitzhak Katz

Yitzhak Katz (May 19, 1901 – 1991) was an Israeli civil servant and art critic active in all spheres of Israeli arts and culture.

Zvi Malnovitzer

The following year, Malnovitzer painted “Exodus” (2007), depicting the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the unilateral evacuation of 21 civilian Jewish settlements.


5uu's

In May 2004, Dave Kerman/5uu's regrouped again in Israel, this time comprising Kerman, Drake, Cutler, Perry, Koomran and Janet Feder on prepared guitar.

Akureyri Art Museum

Artists that have had their work displayed in the Akureyri Art Museum include Icelandic artists Erró, Kjarval and Louisa Matthíasdóttir, American artist Spencer Tunick, Israeli video artist Guy Ben-Ner and French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Alabama Policy Institute

In 2005, it criticized Democrats for failing to take on a hardline position against Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements about Israel.

Andrew Hutchison

Hutchison delivered a response in late 2005 to the call for the destruction of Israel by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, condemning Ahmadinejad for his remarks which incite "hatred of the Jewish people and supporting violence against them."

Arkadaş Association

Arkadaş Association is an Israel-Turkey friendship organization located in Yehud, Israel.

Barbara Schlick

She has since appeared at major concert halls, performance venues, and music festivals throughout Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada, the United States and Russia, singing under the batons of people like Frans Brüggen, William Christie, Michel Corboz, Reinhard Goebel, Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken, and Karl-Friedrich Beringer.

Battle of Beirut

Siege of Beirut (1982), a siege by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War

Dark retreat

All spiritual traditions have used Darkness Techniques in the pursuit of enlightenment: in Europe, the dark room appeared as a network of tunnels, in Egypt as the Pyramides, in Rome as the catacombs, by the Essenes in Israel and Taoists in China as caves.

Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times

The exhibition was created by the Israel Antiquities Authority with items from the Israel National Treasures Department, and is produced by Discovery Times Square and the Franklin Institute.

Economic Cooperation Foundation

The ‘Architects of Oslo’, then developed the ‘BeilinAbu Mazen Understanding’, the first jointly developed detailed concept of a comprehensive Permanent Status Understanding between Israel and a Palestinian State.

Edward Israel

Israel and the rest of the crew spent two years at a camp they called Fort Conger.

Ehud Banai

In 2008, "On the Move", a documentary film directed by Avida Livny and produced by Gidi Avivi, Yael Biron and Dror Nahum, about Banai and the Refugees, participated in the official competition of the Jerusalem Film Festival, in EPOS -the international art & culture film festival in Israel and has been screened in cinemateques around Israel.

Elisha Ben Yitzhak

His parents immigrated to Israel in 1936 after being in a Zionist movement.

Eric Moonman

From 1980 it was funded instead by the World Zionist Organization and from 1985 also by the Israel Foreign Ministry.

Estonia Fed Cup team

Estonia came through Europe/Africa Zone Group I and then edged Israel in a World Group II Play-off to qualify for World Group II for the first time just a year after promotion from Group II.

Hasideans

Several modern scholars (Schürer, Kautzsch, and others) have agreed to this view, which had already been adopted in part by Georg Heinrich August von Ewald (Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iv. 401).

History of Egypt under Anwar Sadat

The October War of 1973 launched against Israel began when the coalition launched a joint surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, which occurred that year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Homing pigeon

A Pigeon and a Boy, by Meir Shalev (English translation by Evan Fallenberg), a historical novel about the use of pigeons by the Israel Defense Forces (and the Haganah before Israel was founded in 1948) in the defence of Israel when it was first founded, and in the defence of the Jewish community before Israeli independence

Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict train service to the station was suspended after a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket hit a train depot in Haifa on July 16, 2006, killing 8 Israel Railways workers.

IMI 120 mm gun

In 1998 the Israel Defense Prize was awarded to Israeli Military Industries for this development, which gave Israel the means to produce tank guns independently.

Indirect election

Many republics with parliamentary systems elect their president indirectly (Germany, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Hungary, India, Israel).

Islam in Libya

The Jihad Fund, supported by a payroll tax, was established in 1970 to aid the Palestinians in their struggle with Israel.

Israel Putnam House

Putnam Cottage, where he had a close escape, owned by the Israel Putnam House Association

Israeli lira

Israel inherited the Palestinian pound but, shortly after the establishment of the state, new banknotes were issued by the London-based Anglo-Palestine bank of the Zionist movement.

Israeli presidential election, 2007

Other persons who had been considered as possible candidates included Dalia Itzik (Kadima), Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor), Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, and Meir Shamgar.

Jennens

Charles Jennens (1700 – 20 November 1773) was an English landowner and patron of the arts, who assembled the text for five of Handel's oratorios: Saul, Israel in Egypt, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Messiah, and Belshazzar.

Jewish Life Television

Its spotlight on Israel and Jewish life is facilitated by broadcast studios in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto as well as bureaus in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Washington, D.C., Miami, London and Moscow.

Kevin Hamilton

Overseas, he has also served at Canada's embassies in Tel Aviv (Israel) and Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina).

Lebanon in the Eurovision Song Contest

The country's broadcasting organization, Télé Liban, was set to make the country's debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Quand tout s'enfuit" performed by Aline Lahoud, but withdrew due to Lebanon's laws barring the broadcast of Israeli content.

Middle East

These were followed by the Hittite, Greek and Urartian civilisations of Asia Minor, Elam in pre-Iranian Persia, as well as the civilizations of the Levant (such as Ebla, Ugarit, Canaan, Aramea, Phoenicia and Israel), Persian and Median civilizations in Iran, North Africa (Carthage/Phoenicia) and the Arabian Peninsula (Magan, Sheba, Ubar).

Nachlaot

The name comes from a biblical verse (Numbers 24:5): "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob/Thy dwellings, O Israel." Mazkeret Moshe was founded by Sir Moses Montefiore in 1882 as an Ashkenazi neighborhood.

Omar Barghouti

In response, Samir El-Youssef states that "Barghouti’s 'true peace based on justice' is that Israel must be punished, brought down to its knees, before a Palestinian is allowed to greet an Israeli in the street".

Palestine Railways P class

After the War of Independence and subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War, main line services were truncated to the territory within the new State of Israel.

Patricia Harrison

Under Harrison's direction, the State Department initiated the CultureCommect program in which American celebrities such as YoYo Ma, Denyce Graves, Doris Roberts and Frank McCourt acted as "cultural ambassadors" in trips to Pakistan, Russia, Israel and other countries.

Paul Dombrecht

He is a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and regularly teaches masterclasses in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Greece and Israel.

Ram Moav

Ram Moav (1930 - 1984) was an Israeli geneticist and science fiction writer.

Samakh

Samakh, Tiberias, an abandoned former Palestinian village at the south end of the Sea of Galilee in Israel

Shahira Amin

Amin became the subject of criticism after she interviewed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on October 18, 2011 in Egypt, following Shalit's release from more than five years of captivity in Gaza but preceding his return to Israel and reunification with his family.

Sheikh Khalifa City

Once called "Morag", when it was a Gush Katif settlement, it has been retroceded to the Palestinian authorities after the settlers' buildings and facilities were destroyed by Israel in 2005.

Solar pond

The largest operating solar pond for electricity generation was the Beit HaArava pond built in Israel and operated up until 1988.

Syro-Ephraimite War

Isaiah concludes these prophecies concerning his children (Shear-Jashub (meaning 'a remnant returns', Isaiah 7.3), Immanuel (meaning 'God is with us'), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (meaning 'quick to plunder, speedy to spoil') by saying, 'Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.' (Isaiah 8.18 NIV) Interestingly enough, the context continues into chapter 9 which also uses a birth of a child as its object.

Tzedakah

There are many examples of Tzedakah funds that operate according to Maimonides' principles above (particularly #2), including Hands on Tzedakah (working with non-profits in the USA and in Israel), and Mitzvah Heroes Fund (working mainly with non-profits in Israel).

Wilfrid B. Israel

On 26 March 1943 Israel left London for Lisbon, Portugal and spent the next two months distributing certificates of entry to British ruled Palestine, and investigating the situation of Jews on the peninsula; during World War II the fascist regimes in Spain and Portugal sympathized with Nazi Germany but refused to hand over Jews to the Germans.

Women for Israel's Tomorrow

Nadia Matar, the group's co-chair, caused controversy across the Israeli political spectrum in September 2004 when she compared the government's intention to remove Israeli settlers from Gaza to the involvement of the Judenrat ("Jewish Council") in Berlin in 1942, which under orders from the German government organized the expulsion of the Jewish community from that city.

Yehuda Talit

During the past few years, Talit has been responsible in a joint production with the Beit Lesin Theater in Israel, for the hit one man show starring Avi Kushnir, Returning the Cave Man.

During the 1980s the company produced large concerts and brought international artists to Israel such as Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman, Dire Straits, Sting, Leonard Cohen, Billy Joel, Boy George, Bryan Adams, Joe Cocker, Julio Iglesias, Duran Duran, David Bowie, The Eurythmics and many others.

Zucchetto

Menasseh Ben Israel for a portrait of Rabbi ben Israel wearing zucchetto-style yarmulke