Ten unusual facts about Israel that will surprise a Russian person in Israel. The most interesting facts about Israel 10 facts about Israel

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1. Israel is the only country in the world where women are called up for military service.

2. Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages in Israel.

3. Thousands of letters addressed to God come to Jerusalem every year.

4. There is no formal accepted version of the Israeli Constitution. The role of the Constitution of the State of Israel is performed by the so-called set of "Basic Laws". Without a formal Constitution also live the UK and New Zealand.

6. 24% of Israel's workforce has higher education(third place after the US and the Netherlands) and 12% for a degree.

7. Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world, and the highest among women and people over 55.

Business district in Tel Aviv

8. Over 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups make Israel the country with the highest concentration of high-tech companies in the world (besides Silicon Valley). In Israel, the number of Microsoft employees per capita is higher than anywhere else in the world.

9. Israel was the first country to ban underweight models from showings.

10. Israel publishes more books translated from other languages than any other country in the world.

11. The smallest metro system in the world is located in Haifa. A train with four cars runs along the 1.8 km long highway.

12. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth (430 m below sea level and falls at a rate of about 1 m per year). Next for dead sea the lowest point is Lake Assal in Djibouti, 275 m above sea level (155 m below sea level).

13. The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem is the oldest permanent cemetery in the world.

14. There are more than 40 kosher McDonald's in Israel. The only kosher McDonald's outside of the Jewish state is in Buenos Aires.

15. Every year, more than a million notes are left in the Wailing Wall. The wall is cleared of notes before Passover and Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year).

16. About 273 kibbutzim work in Israel.

17. Shabbat observant people can buy cheaper car insurance that doesn't cover Shabbat.

18. The most common street name in Israel is Hazait, which means Olive Street.

19. In Israel more museums per capita than in any other country in the world.

20. Many Israeli bus stops have boxes for tzedakah (charitable help).

And learn a lot of interesting things!

We have collected 30 amazing facts about the small, but very strong and interesting state of Israel. After this article, you will rethink everything you knew about this country before, and you will definitely want to visit it!

Israel ranks third in the world in terms of business expansion

It also has the highest rate of entrepreneurship among women and people over 55 in the world.

Israel was the first country to ban underweight models

Israeli banknotes are marked in Braille

Israelis rank third in the world in consumption of vegetables and sweets

The largest known dog cemetery of the ancient world has been discovered in the coastal city of Ashkelon.

Out Magazine Names Israel Gay Capital of the Middle East

Israel has 137 official beaches on 273 km of coastline

Israel has the most colleges in relation to population

The same goes for museums.

... as well as startups!

Voice mail technology was developed in Israel

The first antivirus software for computers was created in Israel in 1979.

Israel has two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic

The city of Beersheba (bibl. Bathsheba) has the highest number of chess grandmasters per capita in the world

The Israeli city of Haifa has one of the smallest subways in the world, with tracks only 1.8 km long.

Israel is one of only three democracies in the world without a codified constitution. The other two are New Zealand and the UK

The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth

The Dead Sea is very easy to swim due to the high concentration of salt. It's almost impossible to drown here

Israel is the only country to revive a dead language and make it their official language

Israel's national airline El Al sets world record for most passengers on commercial flights

The largest pepper was grown in Israel and entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2013

Life expectancy at birth in Israel is 82 years

The national bird of Israel is the hoopoe.

Cooking fats developed in Israel are capable of breaking down cholesterol and other fats in the blood.

An Israeli company has developed the world's first device that repels jellyfish

Israeli scientists have discovered the cause of chronic bad breath and developed an easy way to fix it

Over 44% of all lawyers registered in Israel are women

Israel ranks second in the world in the number of new books per capita

Israel sent 60 million flowers to Europe for sale last Valentine's Day

This year, Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day, is celebrated on April 23rd.

On the eve of the celebration of the 67th birthday of the Jewish state we collected 10 little known facts from its difficult history.

1 El Al had flights to Tehran

Relations between Iran and Israel as a whole developed quite warmly until the Islamic revolution, as a result of which Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in 1979. In 1950, Iran became the second Muslim country after Turkey to recognize Israel. Iran supplied Israel with oil during the OPEC oil embargo, and Israel sold weapons to it. At that time, there was active trade between the countries, regular flights from the capital to the capital civil aircraft. A week after the removal of the Shah from power, Iran severed all ties with Israel, and an office of the Palestine Liberation Organization opened on the site of the Israeli embassy in Tehran. Today, even after 35 years of hostility, Iranians feel less negative towards Jews than other Muslim nations in the Middle East. In 2014, an international anti-Semitism poll by the Anti-Defamation League found that 56% of Iranians were anti-Jewish, compared to 80% of Moroccans and 93% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who were anti-Semitic. The 2014 documentary “Before the Revolution” tells about the relationship between Israel and Iran.

2. Descendants of the Nazis moved to Israel

At least 400 descendants of the Nazis converted to the Jewish faith and moved to Israel - the creators of the published in 2013 documentary film. Many former Nazis also became Jews or married Israelis, but do not live in Israel. For example, the great-niece of Heinrich Himmler, who married an Israeli Jew and now lives on another continent. In the early years of Israel's existence, there were heated discussions - to accept German reparations for the Holocaust or not (in the end, they were accepted). And Germany itself, like everything connected with it, remained an extremely acute controversial topic for a long time - from 1956 to 1967, films made in Germany were banned in Israel.

3. Ben Gurion invented a la couscous

Tiny flour balls of Israeli couscous - ptitim - appeared in the 50s. At that time, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion approached Osem, a food manufacturer, with a request to develop a local wheat product as an alternative to rice, which does not grow in the country and for which the country simply did not have the money in the face of austerity. Ptitim, which was called "Ben-Gurion's rice", immediately won the love of the population.

This 1958 photo of a family sitting in front of a television could not have been taken in Israel because there was no television until 1966 (Wikimedia Commons)

4. There was no television in Israel until the late 60s

The first Israeli television appeared in 1966, primarily as an additional educational tool for schools. Regular public broadcasting began on Israel's Independence Day in 1968. For the next two decades, Israel had only one channel, and broadcasting was limited to a few hours a day. The second channel appeared in 1986, and cable television came to the country in 1990. Today, Israeli TV is a real source of inspiration for Hollywood. Homeland (Showtime), Patients (HBO), Your Family or Mine (TBS), Devotion (NBC), Tyrant and Boom (Showtime) are all remakes of Israeli projects.

5. Mother-in-law of Elizabeth II was buried in Jerusalem

Prince Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was born in 1885. The girl was born with a diagnosis of deafness, however, she learned English and German in the language of the deaf and dumb and even married the Greek and Danish Prince Andrew. During the Nazi occupation of Greece, Alice hid a Jewish woman with children, for which Yad Vashem recognized her as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" and the British government as a "Hero of the Holocaust." In 1967 she moved to London and settled in Buckingham Palace with his son and his wife, Queen Elizabeth II. Two years later, the princess died, and her body was placed in a tomb at Windsor Castle. In 1988, her remains were transferred to the monastery at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives (Olive) - before her death, she expressed a desire to be buried there. One of the oldest cemeteries in operation today is located on this mountain.

6. Alaska Airlines flew thousands of Jewish Yemenis to Israel

After the victory of Israel in the war for independence in 1948, anti-Semitic riots broke out in Yemen, and local Jews decided to move en masse to historical lands. James Wooten, president of Alaska Airlines, was imbued with their difficult situation and gave the order to organize flights for returnees. From June 1949 to September 1950, as part of Alaska Airlines' covert Flying Carpet Operation, twin-engine C-46s and four-engine DC-4s made about 430 flights, transporting about 50,000 Jews from Yemen to Israel. The pilots had to overcome many difficulties: lack of fuel, sandstorms, shelling of the enemy, one of the planes even barely landed due to the loss of an engine. Despite all the difficulties of flights, all passengers were safely transported to Israel.

7 Golda Meir Was The World's Third Woman Prime Minister

Meir (née Meyerson) became Israel's prime minister in 1969. Prior to that, two women had already held such a high position in world history - Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka (1960-65) and Indira Gandhi (1966-77) in India. Meir was born in Kyiv, grew up in Milwaukee and, after her marriage, moved to Mandatory Palestine. She and her husband settled in a kibbutz, and Golda almost immediately began to be active in the Federation of Workers. Despite Meir's huge popularity among American Jews, her policies are still quite heavily criticized in Israel, primarily because of the obvious mistakes they made during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when Meir decided not to launch a preemptive attack on Arab forces on the Israeli border with Syria.

And although the state investigative “Commission of Agranat” established that Meir was not directly responsible for what had happened, she left her post very soon. She was replaced in 1974 by Yitzhak Rabin, who held it until 1977. He was appointed Prime Minister again in 1992.

8. 1980 Israeli law requires all new homes to have solar water heaters

The law was passed as a measure to combat the energy crisis of the late 70s - thanks to it, Israel became the first country in the world in terms of the use of solar energy per capita. According to official estimates, today 85% of homes use solar energy for water heating - this is 3% of electricity consumption in the entire country. But at the same time, today Israel is lagging behind other countries in the field of using solar energy for other purposes, and more and more developers and homeowners are using loopholes in the law to get around the need to install just such a boiler system.

9 Jerusalem's Mount Scopus Isn't Actually Part Of The West Bank

Although Mount Scopus is located in East Jerusalem, where the Hebrew University campus and medical Center"Hadassah", she was Israeli from the very foundation of the state. After the end of the war for independence in 1949, the hill was controlled by Israeli troops, although it was located in the territory of Jordanian east Jerusalem. Every two weeks, under the protection of the United Nations, Israel moved troops and supplies to the enclave. The convoy often came under fire from Arab forces, and in 1958 it was attacked, killing 4 Israeli soldiers and one UN military. Mount Scopus became part of the Jewish territory of Jerusalem as a result of the Six Day War in 1967.

10. Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel.

Einstein received this offer from David Ben-Gurion in November 1952, a few days after the death of Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann. Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Ebman wrote to the genius scholar that the prime minister's proposal was "a gesture of the greatest respect that only the Jewish people can have for any of their sons." Enshtyen replied that he was "deeply moved by the offer of the State of Israel, but with regret and regret I must reject it." Einstein did not accept the post, but he did not stop worrying about the country. “My connection with the Jewish people has become my strongest human connection since I became fully aware of our precarious position among the peoples of the world,” he admitted. It is noteworthy that Ben-Gurion officially denied press reports that it was he who offered Einstein such a post. Three years later, the scientist died.

… ancient land, where the concentration of the mysterious and amazing just rolls over. And among this mysterious, touching and amazing, we have chosen the 10 most interesting facts. Enjoy!
1 Subway branch

The world's smallest metro line is located in Haifa. Its length is only 1.8 km, which accounts for as many as 4 stops. Milota!

2 Walk across the country

In Israel, this is easy, because it can be crossed on foot in 2 hours, if you go across (from east to west). But from north to south you would have to go about 9 days.

Israel's coastline is one of the smallest in the world (of course, among the powers that have it at all) - only 273 kilometers. And, nevertheless, the country has as many as 4 seas - the Red, Dead, Mediterranean and Galilee.

4 Weird Democracy

Israeli political system founded on the principle of democracy. However, it is one of three countries in the world that does not have a constitution.

5 Watch out, jellyfish, I'm coming!

The Israelis were the first in the world to invent a "repellant" from jellyfish.

During excavations in Israel, a vessel with two thousand years old seeds was found. They were planted in the ground, and a palm tree grew, which became extinct almost 1800 years ago.

7 Honorary post

The post of President of Israel was once offered not to anyone, but to Albert Einstein. However, the scientist politely refused.

8 To treat or not to treat?

The Jerusalem Syndrome, in which people believe that a Divine gift has descended on them, occurs precisely in Jerusalem. Pilgrims stricken with illness change into togas, which are often made from sheets, read sermons and arrange processions in this form to the holy places of the city. He is being treated inpatient.

9 This is our everything!

In Israel, you can buy hummus flavored ice cream.

10 You won't believe it, but...

All Jews aged 18 to 26 are eligible for a free 10-day trip to Israel.

All printed publications: newspapers, books, brochures and even menus in restaurants are opened and read not from left to right, but from right to left.

Only in Israel there are two road warning signs about the danger of animals crossing the road: in the south of the country on road sign a camel is depicted, in the north of the country - a roe deer.

In Israel, road cameras photograph the rear car number cars, not the front.

Only in Israel Dead the sea is called salty sea"(translated from Hebrew, yam-ha-melah - salty sea). All over the world and in all languages, this sea is called the Dead Sea.

In Israel, in front of the entrance to public institutions, metal detector arches and . Upon entering the premises, you will be asked to show the contents of the bag. This is how Israel approaches the security of citizens.

In Israel, there is the only day of the year when nothing and no one works - Yom Kippur (Judgment Day). On this day, you will not see a single car on the streets of the country (exceptions are special vehicles: police cars, ambulances).

The national dish of Israeli cuisine is hummus - a snack of mashed chickpeas, which is seasoned with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and other spices.

Only in Israel, even girls undergo compulsory military service. The service life of boys is 3 years, the service life of girls is 2 years.

Only in Israel you can meet a man dressed in night pajamas and house slippers in the middle of the day, who just walks around the city.

In Israel, there is a pajama holiday - this is one of the most beloved children's holidays. On this day, children walk around the city in pajamas and slippers. In this form, they visit and educational establishments.

In Israel, the cost of 1 liter of gasoline is approximately $2.

Waiting for an appointment with a doctor can be several months.

Arriving for permanent residence in Israel, your passport is handed to you right at the airport.

Only in Israel it is customary to celebrate the New Year in the month of September. The New Year, which is celebrated on December 31, is called "Sylvester" in Israel and is not a public holiday.

The standard of living in Israel is one of the highest in the world.

In Israel, any conversation is accompanied by quite emotional gestures.

is at a fairly high level.

Hebrew is a very easy language, but at the same time, there are absolutely no vowels in Hebrew.

The week starts on Sunday. On Saturday () everything dies out.

All establishments in Israel are divided into "kosher" and "non-kosher"

The official capital of Israel is, and not, as many believe, Tel Aviv. is a business, cultural and Entertainment Center countries.

In Israel, in relation to children, it is forbidden to use physical force, in any of its manifestations. If this fact turns out, you will face long proceedings with social services, courts, lawyers and lawyers, and the police.

In Israel, guests entering an apartment do not take off their shoes. So it's accepted here.

In Israel, a mezuzah, a scroll of parchment containing a prayer, hangs on the front door of an apartment or house.

There are no registry offices in Israel. Only representatives of one religion have the right to sign here. Everyone else is in for an exciting Honeymoon to Cyprus, to the Czech Republic, to the Dominican Republic.

Hebrew does not have a standard "you" address. Everyone communicates with each other only on "you".

In Israel, in winter and early spring, all the deserts turn green.

Many educational institutions in Israel are divided into male and female.

In Israeli kosher restaurants, you cannot order meat and dairy dishes. According to the rules of kashrut, this is prohibited. Therefore, in Israel there are separate meat and dairy restaurants.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, air defense sirens sound throughout the country. People stop on the streets, cars in cities and even on highways stop their movement. While the siren sounds, absolutely everything stops in Israel. As soon as it stops, the Israelis return to their normal rhythm of life.