• the Gashash HaHiver trio, which included Shaike Levi, was awarded the Israel Prize in 2000 for lifetime achievement and contribution to Israeli entertainment and society?
• the Israeli documentary Paper Dolls followed the lives of five health care providers from the Philippines who perform as drag queens?
• the 2006 film Strawberry Fields is a documentary about Palestinian farmers in Gaza facing hardships caused by the Israel–Hamas military conflict?
• since its founding in 1948 Israel has had twelve Attorneys General?
• since 1948 Israel has only lost 18 planes in air to air combat?
• the Israeli kibbutz Gvat was established in commemoration of the 35 Pinsk Jews shot by Polish soldiers during the Pinsk massacre?
• the Israeli band Ping pong were disendorsed by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority as the representative in the 2000 Eurovision after waving the Flag of Syria in their song "Sameyakh"?
• the Israel Prize was set up in 1953 at the initiative of Israeli Minister of Education Ben-Zion Dinur, who then went on to win the prize in 1958, and again in 1973?
• the Israeli Air Force's first heavy bombers were three B-17 Flying Fortresses smuggled to Israel in the late 1940s by Charles Winters and his associates?
• the Israeli politician and diplomat Adin Talbar was the national 800 meter dash champion in 1942?
• the Israeli ground-based missile-defense radar EL/M-2080 Green Pine (diagram pictured) operates in search, detection, tracking, and missile guidance modes simultaneously?
• the Israeli government is considering recognizing Indian nanny Sandra Samuel as a Righteous among the Nations?
• on July 30, 1970, Israeli and Soviet fighter pilots battled in the skies over Egypt in an engagement codenamed Rimon 20?
• in the 2009 Indian parliamentary election the Communist Party of India (M-L) Red Flag decided to support the Left Democratic Front, claiming that its opponents were pro-Israeli?
• during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 105 Israelis were taken prisoner by Egypt in the Battle of Nitzanim, which was viewed as humiliating in Israel?
• for many years, kibbutz Mizra's store was the only place in Israel that sold non-kosher meat?
• during Operation Raviv of September 1969, Israeli troops used captured Arab armor (T-55 pictured) to raid Egypt's Red Sea coast?
• due to the Arab League boycott of Israel, McDonald's did not open in Israel until 1993 when they opened their first branch in Ramat Gan?
• despite having immigrated from Poland, Dahn Ben-Amotz was often considered the epitome of the concept of the Israeli native "Sabra"?
• former Israeli politician and Speaker of the Knesset Shlomo Hillel was in charge of an underground ammunition factory disguised as a laundry facility during the British Mandate of Palestine?
• in 1943, Prigat, a small and newly created juice manufacturer at the time, sold 775,000 syrup bottles to the British Army in Israel?
• in the 1960s, Israel trained Ethiopian forces for counterinsurgency operations against the Eritrean Liberation Front?
• in a 1967 television interview, David Frost compared Welsh nationalist activist Dennis Coslett to Israeli general Moshe Dayan, because both wore eyepatches?
• in 2005 Georgian ambassador to Israel Lasha Zhvania asked Hebrew speakers to stop calling his country Gruziya?
• in 1954, Israel walked out of the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission after the commission failed to condemn Jordan for the Scorpion Pass Massacre?
• the mentally ill Egyptian policeman who perpetrated the Ras Burqa massacre, killing seven Israeli tourists, including four children, was hailed in the Egyptian opposition press as a national hero?
• the U.S. airlifted 22,325 tons of military supplies to Israel for use in the Yom Kippur War under Operation Nickel Grass?
  
• the artist who made a stone relief of the Menorah in Israel's Migdal Synagogue in 50 BCE – 100 CE may have seen the original Menorah in the Second Temple before its destruction in 70 CE?
• the destruction of Ayn Ghazal by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war was condemned by Count Bernadotte?
• the ancient Tzippori Synagogue in Israel was discovered by workers building a parking lot?
• the affair known in Israel as "the dirty trick" included the only successful vote of no confidence issued against an Israeli government to date?
• the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1450 marked the first time that Israeli losses were mentioned or condemned in a United Nations resolution?
• the eastern segment of Canada Park in Israel lies on the village site of the depopulated former Palestinian village of Dayr Ayyub?
• the final text of the Durban Declaration produced by the governments meeting at the World Conference against Racism 2001 does not contain the language that caused the Israeli and United States delegations to withdraw halfway through?
• the well-preserved Khan al-Umdan (pictured), located in Acre, is the largest caravanserai in Israel?
• until the former Arab village of Nabi Rubin was captured by Israel in 1948, it was the site of a large annual religious festival with tens of thousands of Muslims participating?
• the prelude to Operation Pleshet saw Israel use its first ever fighter plane, the Avia S-199?
• the popular Israeli singer Aya Korem works part-time as a bartender in Tel Aviv in between recording and performing?
• the first Spinka Rebbe, Joseph Meir Weiss, was buried in Romania in 1909, but reinterred in Petah Tikva, Israel in 1972?
• the Shelly was an Israeli cargo vessel that sank after being accidentally rammed by a cruise liner, killing two crewmembers?
• the Teach First organisation which helps top graduate students teach in some of the most deprived areas in London and was inspired by Teach for America, is now expanding to Manchester and Israel?
• the Alignment is the only political party in Israel ever to have held a majority of seats in the Knesset?
• the Defense (Emergency) Regulations first enacted in British Mandate Palestine in 1945 were incorporated into Israel's domestic legislation in 1948 and remain in force to this day?
• the al-Muallaq Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Dhaher al-Omar in Acre, Israel, is located on the site of the town's ancient synagogue?
• the Abergil Crime Family is facing charges of money laundering, murder and drug trafficking, both in Israel and the United States?
• the Dean of Barnard College and Teddy Roosevelt's grandson founded an organization that lobbied the Truman administration to prevent the creation of the State of Israel?
• the Etzioni Brigade participated in the first ever Israeli Haganah operation that deployed more than one brigade?
• the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, Israel, is named after Hillel Yaffe, a doctor who served nearby Jewish settlements in the early 20th century?
• the Palestinian Fedayeen campaign against Israel was one of the causes of the 1956 Suez Crisis?
• the Judean date palm, which was thought to have died out around 1 CE, was resurrected using a single seed found in the palace of Herod the Great on Mount Masada in southern Israel?
• the Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan was developed by a U.S. ambassador in 1955 to reduce conflict between Israel, Jordan, and their neighbors?
• the Jaffa Clock Tower (pictured) in Israel was built to celebrate the silver jubilee of the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Hamid II?
• as Israeli military governor of the Gaza Strip, Yitzhak Pundak planned to relocate the Palestinian refugees there to a new city in the Sinai Peninsula, but met with opposition from Ariel Sharon?
• architect Arieh Sharon (pictured), who had been a beekeeper on a kibbutz, later led a 180-person commission to plan the development of Israel?
• Israel Prize recipient Avraham Yaski founded the largest architecture firm in Israel?
• Israeli Dudu Yifrah raised sewn-together Israeli-Palestinian flags on the summit of Mount Everest, and dedicated his climb to his Palestinian colleague Ali Bushnaq?
• Israeli writer Eli Amir called for more Israeli literature to be translated into Arabic to promote understanding?
• Israeli politician and settlement activist Gershon Shafat spent ten months as a Jordanian prisoner of war?
• Israeli pilot and peace activist Abie Nathan landed his plane in Egypt in 1966 in an attempt to deliver a message of peace to President Nasser?
• kibbutz Re'im has started a project to become the first community in Israel with its domestic power consumption provided entirely by solar energy?
• Mount Hermon was captured by Syria on the first day of the Yom Kippur War and recaptured by Israel fifteen days later?
• Berman's Bakery, Israel's second-largest, got its start by peddling black bread and honey cakes to Christian pilgrims on their way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?
• Daniel Friedmann, Israel's Minister of Justice, is a seventh-generation sabra, a rarity in a country where mass Jewish immigration did not begin until the late 19th century?
• Angel Bakeries is the sole supplier of hamburger buns for McDonald's restaurants in Israel?
• Russian-born Israeli mathematician Aryeh Dvoretzky is the first graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to become a full professor there?
• Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a majority of Israel's population support future enlargement of the European Union to incorporate Israel?
• Israeli chess Grandmaster Ronen Har-Zvi first met his wife playing online chess at the Internet Chess Club?
• Israeli actress Hanna Maron lost her leg after a grenade was thrown at her airplane, but resumed her acting career a year later?
• Ariel Sharon named his former party, Shlomtzion, after the newly born daughter of Amos Keinan, co-founder of the Israeli–Palestinian Council?
• fallow deer bones found in the Qesem Cave, Israel, show evidence that humans 400,000 to 200,000 years ago butchered animals to share and cook?
• archaeologist Francis Turville-Petre, discoverer of Neanderthal remains in Israel, was portrayed in works by authors W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood?
• 39% of Israeli schoolchildren watch the educational television program Bli Sodot in their classroom?
• 20th-century medieval scholar Erika Cheetham interpreted Nostradamus' writings as prophecies of Napoleon, Hitler, and the establishment of modern Israel?
• Israel and China were cultivating military cooperation well before the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992?
• Israel has the highest solar energy use per capita in the world?
• Israel's future Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, and its future President of the Supreme Court, Meir Shamgar, were both interned in Africa by British Mandate authorities for membership in Lehi and Irgun?
• Israel's Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, known for its association with Jerusalem Syndrome, was built on the site of a 1947 massacre?
• Israel's deadliest traffic accident took place in December 2008 when a tourists' coach en route to the resort town of Eilat plunged into a ravine?
• Israel is the world's largest recipient of United States overseas military assistance?
• Dov Yosef, Israel's second Minister of Justice, immigrated to Israel as a soldier in the Canadian Jewish Legion?
• Frank Brickowski played basketball in Italy, France and Israel for three years in the early 1980s, until the New York Knicks thought he was ready for the NBA?
• Yolande Harmer, who was one of the most prominent Israeli spies in Egypt in 1948 is thought of as "Israel's Mata Hari"?
• The Land of the Settlers is a five-part documentary series made by Chaim Yavin, dubbed "Israel's Walter Cronkite", and was so controversial that his station refused to air it?
• Yehuda Hiss has been the chief pathologist at Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine since 1988?
• Uri-On (pictured), created by Michael Netzer in 1987, was the first Israeli superhero to be published in color?
• Tiv Ta'am is the largest supermarket chain in Israel to sell non-kosher food?
• Karl Heinz Schneider, who used to organize battalions in the Hitler Youth, later moved to Israel, converted to Judaism and took the name of Abraham Reuel?
• Major General Dan Harel was the Israeli commander in charge of the Gaza pull-out during the summer of 2005?
• after the Palestinian Safad village of Fir'im was depopulated in 1948, the Israeli settle­ment of Hatzor HaGlilit was established nearby?
• after Egypt was defeated by Israel during the Six-Day War the Egyptian government issued copies of the Hope paintings to its troops?
• a Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense Canadair CL-44 crashed in the Soviet Union in 1981, after smuggling arms from Israel to Iran during the Iran-Contra affair?
• Rabbi Wolfe Kelman prepared the way for the rabbinic ordination of women in Conservative Judaism and his daughter Naamah Kelman was the first woman in Israel ordained by the Reform Judaism movement?
• Table to Table is an Israeli charity that collects leftover and surplus food, gathering enough each week to provide 12,000 to 14,000 meals and 40 to 50 tons of produce?
• Samuel Brand, a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp in Nazi Germany, was officially the first immigrant to enter Israel after its creation?
• Majdi Halabi, an Israeli Druze soldier from the village of Daliyat el-Karmel, disappeared on duty near Haifa and was formally declared to be missing in action in June 2005?
• Miriam Ben-Porat was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Israel and the first woman to serve as Israel's State Comptroller?
• Hapoel Tayibe was the first ever Arab football club to play in the top division in Israel?
• Haim Yosef Zadok was Israel's first secular Minister of Religious Affairs?
• Gonzalo Aguirre Villafán, former president of the parliamentary Defense Committee of Bolivia, was educated in Israel?
• Operation Bringing Home the Goods was launched by Israel to capture Palestinian prisoners in Jericho to make sure they were not released?
• Operation Diamond, mounted by the Mossad in 1966, resulted in an Iraqi pilot landing a Soviet-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 in Israel?
• Sami Hadawi, author of works on the land rights of Palestinian refugees, was exiled by Israel in 1948 and denied permission to have his remains returned to his native Jerusalem for burial in 2004?
• Qualifying Industrial Zones are special free-trade zones in Jordan and Egypt created to take advantage of the free trade agreements between the United States and Israel?
• Pinchas Rosen, Israel's first Minister of Justice, served in the German army during World War I?
• Oriental metal is a kind of death metal music that originated in Israel which has traditional Jewish and "Oriental" influences?
• "A-Ba-Ni-Bi", Israel's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, was performed partly in the Hebrew equivalent of Pig Latin?

Facts on topics related to Israel

Armenia

• Armenian composer and musician Ara Gevorgyan composed the music for Russian prima ballerina Anastasia Volochkova's "Golden cage" ballet dedicated to the Bolshoi Theater?
• Polish-Armenian Roman Catholic priest, Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski was ordered to be silent by the Krakow Curia because of his clergy lustration activities?
• chee kufta is an Armenian raw meat dish similar to steak tartare?
• Haghpat Monastery (pictured) in Armenia was placed on the World Heritage List over 1,000 years after it was founded?
• khash is a traditional Armenian dish from the Shirak region which has cow's feet as its main ingredient?
• Rhipsime and her companions are venerated as the first Christian martyrs in Armenian history?
• tetraconch churches, with four apses spreading from a central dome, are a speciality of medieval Armenian and Georgian architecture?
• a swinging column at Haghartsin Monastery in Armenia was used to hide riches?
• one of the finest khachkar memorial stones is located at Goshavank Monastery in Armenia, the place where the law of Armenia was first codified by Mkhitar Gosh in the late 12th and early 13th century?
• opinion polls in Armenia suggest that 64% of its population favors eventual Armenian membership in the European Union?

Greece

• German painter Ludwig Thiersch influenced the debate over Byzantine and Western influences in modern Greek art, and painted church frescoes in Greece, Austria, Germany, England, and Russia?
• Greek composer Phivos has written songs for artists including Keti Garbi, Angela Dimitriou, Manto, Thanos Kalliris, and, most successfully, Despina Vandi?
• Greek–Polish singer Eleni Tzoka has been awarded the Saint Rita of Cascia prize for the act of mercy towards the killer of her young daughter?
• Nigeria, which contains what was once the Kingdom of Benin, has repeatedly called for the U.K.'s return of the Benin Bronzes, in a situation similar to Greece's petition for the return of the Elgin Marbles?
• Norwegian chemist Alexis Pappas was born in London to Greek parents who fled from Belgium to England during World War I?
• Russian Hussar Alexander Bulatovich (pictured) was a military aide to Ethiopian ruler Menelek II, a hieromonk in Greece, and leader of a banned religious movement?
• Stylianos Pattakos, a principal of the 21 April 1967 coup in Greece, after his conviction at the Greek junta trials, enjoyed amenities such as a pond with 21 goldfish while imprisoned?
• American statesman John Milledge named Athens, Georgia, the city surrounding the University of Georgia, after Athens, Greece, the city of Plato's Academy?
• Emmanouil Argyropoulos (pictured), the first Greek aviator to fly over his country, was also the first casualty suffered by Greek military aviation one year later during the Balkan Wars?
• Nobile Teatro di San Giacomo di Corfù‎, founded in 1720, was the first modern opera theatre in Greece?

Cyprus

• "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" was performed in French at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, despite being the Cypriot entry?
• Scorpions were transported to Cyprus in 1974 to protect the British Sovereign Base Areas during the Turkish Invasion?
• Section 171 of the Criminal Code of Cyprus, which prohibited homosexual acts between men, was repealed just eight days before a May 29, 1998 deadline set by the Council of Europe?
• among all European Union member states, Cyprus is the only presidential republic? (pictured: EU flag)
• despite being born in Harlow, England, Alex Stavrinou qualified to play for the Cyprus youth football team through his father's Cypriot heritage?
• during the Ottoman–Venetian War of 1570–1573, the 8,500-strong Venetian garrison of Famagusta in Cyprus held out for eleven months against an Ottoman army of 200,000 men?
• in 1902, 23-year-old British archaeozoologist Dorothea Bate discovered a new species of dwarf elephant in a cave on the island of Cyprus?
• the Cypriot women's basketball team was disqualified at the 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie for exceeding the permitted number of naturalized players?

Germany

• 19th century Polish general Ludwik Mierosławski led revolutionaries in Poland, Germany and Italy?
• U.S. Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen received the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which contained an understanding between Hitler and Stalin to split Central Europe, from German diplomat Hans von Herwarth?
• the author of the term Third Reich predicted that "Germany might perish because of the Third Reich dream"?
• Church of Scientology International official Leisa Goodman went on a six-month mission to investigate the treatment of Scientologists in Germany?
• communist activist Franz Jacob organized one of the largest resistance groups in Germany during World War II?
• French Major General René Cogny, who later commanded French forces during the First Indochina War, was captured in June 1940 by the German army, and had to escape by crawling naked through a drainpipe?
• French protests caused the Russians to award the contract for the Gangut-class battleship to a Russian firm rather than the German winner of the 1908 international design contest?
• Gauleiter of Tyrol and Vorarlberg Franz Hofer arranged the surrender of the troops under his command with an American sergeant, and a Jewish emigrant from Germany, Fred Mayer?
• German painter Ludwig Thiersch influenced the debate over Byzantine and Western influences in modern Greek art, and painted church frescoes in Greece, Austria, Germany, England, and Russia?
• German bass Hans Herbert Fiedler sang the role of Moses in the original 1954 production of Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron?

Norway

• 19th-century politician Søren Jaabæk (pictured) is the longest-serving member of parliament in the history of Norway?
• 22-year-old ski jumper Anette Sagen played the mother of 70-year-old Bård Owe in the Norwegian movie O' Horten?
• 29 Norwegian civilians were shot in reprisal by the Nazi regime in Norway following the Norwegian resistance's assassination of police chief Karl Marthinsen in February of 1945?
• television chef Ingrid Espelid Hovig is considered the "culinary mother" of Norway?
• 1993 Eurovision Song Contest winner Niamh Kavanagh overcame voice and dress problems to make her return in the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway?
• Prince Carl of Denmark landed at Vippetangen when he arrived in Norway to assume the throne in 1905?
• Henrich Krummedige's 1502 murder of Knut Alvsson ended the feud started by their fathers, Hartvig Krummedige and Alv Knutsson, as well as Knut's leadership of the rebellion against King Hans' rule over Norway?
• musicologist Olav Gurvin co-edited the first Norwegian music encyclopedia in 1949?
• Norway's first tank was a Landsverk L-120 with an improvised turret and make-shift armour?
• Norway applied thrice to join the European Union, but failed to accede all three times?

Poland

• "Spieprzaj dziadu!" (Polish for "Piss off, old man!"), said by current Polish President Lech Kaczynski, has become one of the most famous phrases in modern Poland?
• 19th century Polish general Ludwik Mierosławski led revolutionaries in Poland, Germany and Italy?
• abrasion has destroyed the 14th century Church in Trzęsacz, Poland, near the Baltic Sea, except for part of its southern wall?
• French-born artist Jan Piotr Norblin is famous in Poland for illustrating many important historical moments of the last years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and is considered one of the most important painters of the Polish Enlightenment?
• German socialist politician Siegmund Glücksmann initiated the first socialist protests against the Piłsudski government in Poland?
• Greek–Polish singer Eleni Tzoka has been awarded the Saint Rita of Cascia prize for the act of mercy towards the killer of her young daughter?
• Japan and Poland are the world's largest krill fishing nations since Russia abandoned its operations in 1993?
• neoclassical Staszic Palace in Warsaw was temporarily given a Russo-Byzantine redesign upon Poland's partition?
• Norwegian professor of bacteriology Sverre Dick Henriksen was an honorary member of the Polish Chamber of Physicians and Dentists, despite having never worked in Poland?
• Poland's Antoni Gawryłkiewicz, a recipient of the Righteous among the Nations medal, signed his Yad Vashem deposition in Hebrew, a language he did not understand?

Portugal

• 18th century Franco-Portuguese industrialist Jácome Ratton (pictured) left a vivid account of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in his memoirs and was exiled to the Azores during the Napoleonic Wars?
• Angola gained its independence from Portugal through the Alvor Agreement?
• Eça de Queirós, one of the greatest writers in the Portuguese language, was born in Praça do Almada, the civic center of Póvoa de Varzim in Portugal?
• Italian explorer Rafael Perestrello, a cousin of Christopher Columbus, sailed on behalf of Portugal and established trading relationships for that country with the Ming Dynasty in China in 1516?
• Portugal was taken to court over its failure to implement EU directives regarding its water supply and sanitation systems?
• Portuguese Josefa de Óbidos was one of the few women dedicated to painting (pictured: still life by her) in the Baroque era?
• Portuguese architect Mateus Fernandes is best known for his Manueline-style work at the Monastery of Batalha?
• Portuguese soldier and explorer Francisco Barreto led an expedition to Monomotapa in search of legendary gold mines, but died along the way from tropical diseases, as did many of his men?
• Ulysses S. Grant awarded Bolama to Portugal, who made it the first capital of Portuguese Guinea?
• Arthur Raikes was a British army officer but received honours from Zanzibar, Austria and Portugal?

Netherlands

• arson was suspected when the last original boô (pictured), a building where a farmer rested when grazing cattle far from a village, burned down in the Netherlands?
• Cape Leeuwin, the most south-westerly point of the Australian continent, is named after the Dutch galleon Leeuwin?
• jazz singer Ilse Huizinga is known in the Netherlands as the First Lady of Jazz?
• two Dutch professors who lost an article written by Samuel Iperusz Wiselius were nonetheless to join him in forming the Batavian Republic in the Netherlands?
• landscape architecture firm West 8 designed the so-called "Reptile Bridge" between Leidsche Rijn and Utrecht in the Netherlands?
• Dutch abstract artist Jules de Goede described his art by saying "A reflection of the world like it visually appears is not quite enough ... I try to show what is invisible"?
• Dutch admiral Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer (1604–1655) kept Maarten Tromp's standard raised to maintain morale after the latter died in the Battle of Scheveningen in 1653?
• Dutch cricketer Maurits van Nierop had been recalled to the Netherlands national cricket team squad for the first time in two years just two weeks before he died?
• Dutch magician Fred Kaps was the only magician to win the magic world championship three times?
  
• Dutch mannerist painter Cornelis Ketel began to paint with his toes towards the end of a successful career as a portraitist, (example, right) in Elizabethan London and Amsterdam?

Israelis

• Israeli Dudu Yifrah raised sewn-together Israeli-Palestinian flags on the summit of Mount Everest, and dedicated his climb to his Palestinian colleague Ali Bushnaq?
• four countries are working together with Israelis and Palestinians to create a range of new cooperative economic projects to foster peace, in the Valley of Peace initiative?