X-Nico

57 unusual facts about Israel


Abel Ehrlich

Abel Ehrlich (Hebrew: אבל ארליך; September 3, 1915 – October 30, 2003) was an Israeli composer.

Avith

Its location is unknown but presumably it was in what is now southern Israel or Jordan.

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".

Ben Ammi Ben-Israel

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

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.

Dahaniya

Dahaniya (Arabic: دهنية) was a village near the southernmost point in the Gaza Strip, evacuated in Israel's disengagement of 2005.

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to leave the entire Gaza Strip, including the village of Dahaniya, meant that Israeli security forces would no longer be able to defend the residents from Palestinian militants.

Dan Harel

In this capacity he not only implemented counterterrorism measures, but was also the commander in charge of Israel's Gaza pull-out in the summer of 2005.

Danny Ben-Israel

Danny Ben-Israel was a notable Israeli musician of the late 1960s and early 1970s, producing psychedelic progressive rock with socially concerned lyrics in Hebrew.

Economy of the Palestinian territories

In the wake of Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza, there were shortages of bread and basic supplies due to closure of the al Mentar/Karni border-crossing into Israel.

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.

Emil Gorovets

In 1972, Gorovets and his wife, the actress Margarita Polonskaya (in Russian Маргарита Полонская), his partner and assistant, applied to emigrate to Israel, where they arrived in 1973.

Fishi Ha-Gadol

Adam Levinzon (born in 1977) in Israel, know as The Big Fishi (Fishi Hagadol - פישי הגדול) and Adam Ben-Lavi, is a music producer and an Israeli rapper.

Garin Torani

At that point, the idea of building up the people and hearts of Israel, and not only the physical landmarks, took hold as part of the Religious Zionist vision.

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.

Haim Yahiel

In 1949 Yahiel returned to Israel joining the Jewish Agency Department of Absorption as director in Jerusalem.

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.

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'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.

Judaization

In modern Hebrew, the term Judaization is used to describe the cultural life of baalei teshuvah, or "returnees", and refers to a "process through which secular, non-observant, young (and not so young) Israelis who have grown up in Israel within the majority culture, have become practicing Orthodox Jews and have joined the minority subculture of Orthodoxy".

Jund al-Urdunn

During the Fatimid era, the principal cities were Acre, Tiberias, Baysan, Beit Ras, Jadur, Fiq, Tyre, Lajjun, Faradiyya, Kabul and Saffuriya.

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.

According to the Reconstitution Agreement of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), Keren Hayesod is one of its three constituent bodies (along with the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the United Israel Appeal in the United States, a subsidiary of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)) and provides 20% of the representatives on the Board of Governors and the Assembly.

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.

Michael Maschler

He was a professor in the Einstein Institute of Mathematics and the Center for the Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

Military Rabbinate

Weiss is infamous for being the chief rabbi during the 2005 disengagement from Gaza and was in charge of disinterring 48 graves from the Gush Katif cemetery.

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

Moshe Karadi

During this time, he oversaw the preparation and participation of the police in Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of the summer of 2005.

Political accusations against the Baha'i Faith

Since the founding of Israel, there are also accusations of Bahá'ís being associated with Zionism, since the Bahá'í World Centre is located in current-day Israel, although this is an historic accident, rather than the result of deliberate action by the Baha'is.

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.

Ram Moav

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

Raquela Prywes

Raquela Prywes (Hebrew: רחלה פריבס; born Raquela Levy, 1924 in Jerusalem; died March, 1985) was a nurse in Israel, trained in midwifery, and obstetrics, at the Hadassah Medical Center.

Reuven Shiloah

After his tenure at the Mossad Shiloah worked in the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC and continued serving as an advisor.

Shiloah's involvement in political and defense matters commenced before the establishment of the State of Israel.

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.

Shemira

In Israel shemira refers to all forms of guard duty, including military guard duty.

Silicon Valley Bank

In 2004, the bank opened international subsidiaries in Bangalore and London; in 2005 it opened offices in Beijing and Israel.

Sufa

Sufa, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel and a border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip

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.

Theodore Motzkin

Theodore Samuel Motzkin (26 March 1908–15 December 1970) was an Israeli-American mathematician.

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.

Valentin Kontridze

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

William IV, Count of Nevers

William IV, Count of Nevers, (c. 1130 – Acre, 24 October 1168) Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre (1161–1168).

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;

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.


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.

Barner

Uri Bar-Ner, a senior adviser to the President of the America-Israel Friendship League

Big Brother 5

HaAh HaGadol 5, the current 2013 edition of Big Brother in Israel

Big Gus, What's the Fuss?

Big Gus, What's the Fuss? (also known as Ha-Balash Ha'Amitz Shvartz and Fat Spy) was a 1973 Israeli comedy film directed by Ami Artzi and American director Lloyd Kaufman, the president of Troma Entertainment.

Boaz Myhill

Myhill's parents originally intended to name him Boaz, a Hebrew name which they encountered and liked while travelling in Israel, but were dissuaded from doing so by relatives.

Chakhei

2. Nazareth Vaih: A street named after Nazareth in the Holy Bible, which is the name of the town in Israel, the place where Jesus Christ was raised up, is somehow an attraction for visitors from outside.

Chezki Lifshitz

Chezki Lifshitz was born in 1974 to Tzvi Menashe and Ester Lifshitz in Bnei Brak, Israel, he Studied in Chabad Yeshiva Ktana of Lod, and Yeshiva Gdola of Kfar Chabad.

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.

David Ha'ivri

He contracted Ron Bowman Director of Dale Carnegie Training in Israel provide a 13 week course for the local activists.

Dorothy Norman

During the 1930s and 1940s Norman was active in various liberal causes, particularly civil rights, education, and independence for India and for Israel.

Edward Israel

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

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.

Every Spy a Prince

Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community is a 1990 book by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman on the history of the Israeli intelligence community.

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).

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 and legitimacy

M.J. Rosenberg, writing in the Los Angeles Times, argued that the term "delegitimization" is a "distraction", whose purpose is to divert attention away from world opposition to the "illegitimate" occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip, from the "illegal" settlements, and from "the ever-louder calls for Israel to grant Palestinians equal rights".

Israel Democracy Institute

In 2001 the institute established a public council led by Meir Shamgar in order to consolidate an Israeli constitution which would be agreed upon by all the current currents in Israel.

Israel–Kenya relations

Following the Kenyan presidential election, 2007, there was rioting, and Israel came to the aid of Kenyans by donating medicine to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.

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.

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.

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.

Jihadism

This changed significantly with the foundation of the state of Israel and the beginning of the Arab–Israeli conflict after the end of World War II.

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.

Marcus Goldstein

Following his retirement, Goldstein, and his wife, Lea, immigrated to Israel, where he joined Tel Aviv University and played an important role in developing research in the newly formed Department of Anatomy and Anthropology.

Mechinat Avnei Eitan

The mechina, the first of its kind for English speakers, was founded in 2004, on Moshav Avnei Eitan in the Golan Heights annexed by Israel in 1981.

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).

Mohel

A review (2013) of cases of neonatal HSV infections in Israel identified ritual circumcision as the source of HSV-1 transmission in 31.8% of cases.

Mostar Round-Trip

A year after 17-year-old Yuval leaves home in Israel to attend the United World College in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina, filmmaker David Fisher, his father, follows.

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.

Neve Dekalim

Hamas turned the site into a barbed-wire enclosed training camp from which Qassam rockets were launched into Israel.It was the largest Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

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.

Rafael Eitan

On 3 June 1982, Abu Nidal's militant group gravely wounded Israel's ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov, in an assassination attempt.

Rogatchover Gaon

The remainder of his surviving writings appeared in the United States and Israel many years after his death; all are titled Tzofnath Paneach "decipherer of secrets", (a title given to the Biblical Joseph by Pharaoh (Genesis 41:45)).

Rome and Vienna airport attacks

At 08:15 GMT, four gunmen walked to the shared ticket counter for Israel's El Al Airlines and Trans World Airlines at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport outside Rome, Italy, fired assault rifles, and threw grenades.

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.

The Little Drummer Girl

The story follows the manipulations of Martin Kurtz, an Israeli spymaster who is trying to kill a Palestinian terrorist named Khalil, who is bombing Jewish-related targets in Europe, particularly Germany, and the English actress Charlie, who becomes a double agent working on behalf of the Israelis.

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).

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.