78 reasons I love Israel
1. The Ayalon Mall shut down to allow the five returned hostage young women to shop in privacy.
2. When the lifeguard at Gordon Beach in Tel Aviv heard that four hostages were rescued in Gaza, he announced it to the swimmers and sunbathers, to cheers along the waterfront.
3. From the smallest kibbutz to the largest cities, the hostages’ photos and yellow flags are displayed.
4. Eden Golan sang magnificently at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, despite being booed for representing Israel. She came in fifth out of 37 entries.
5. In Golan’s song, “Hurricane,” images of a sun rising during the music video was a tribute to the lives lost at the Supernova music festival.
6. The site of the Supernova music festival is the most popular KKL-JNF park, with an estimated 7,000 visitors a day.
7. Yuval Raphael, representing Israel at Eurovision this year, is a survivor of the Supernova massacre.
8. Raphael began her singing career only in 2023. In three languages – English, French, and Hebrew – she’s singing “New Day Will Rise,” which includes a quote from the “Song of Songs.”
9. Hundreds of new songs have been written by Israeli musicians since Oct. 7, 2023.
10. The music of the late Aner Shapira, who tossed back seven grenades thrown at the shelter near Re’im, was turned into an album.
11. At a sold-out concert in Jerusalem, popular singer Yonatan Razel performed with Col. Golan Vach a new melody of the 23rd Psalm that Vach had learned from musician and school principal Yossi Hershkovitz, who was killed fighting in Gaza.
12. Yishai Engelman, a wounded soldier in rehab at the new Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah-University Medical Center, on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus, sang Hershkovitz’s song at the annual memorial ceremony for the 78 men and women who were murdered in the Hadassah convoy on April 13, 1948. Children and grandchildren of the victims took part.
13. The songs played at the funeral of Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel Bibas rose to the top of the national Spotify music chart.
14. Major companies gave time off to workers who wanted to line the roads or attend the funeral of Ariel, Kfir, and Shiri.
15. For the Bibas family: The city of Midgal Ha’emek renamed a street. An orange butterfly was renamed. Children dressed up for Purim in Batman costumes, favorites of the Bibas boys.
16. Purim was three days long in Jerusalem this year.
17. Fasting all. Times for the Jewish fast of Esther and the Muslim fast of Ramadan are announced on the radio. FYI, the Muslim fast ended a little earlier.
18. As Purim was ending, President Isaac Herzog hosted an iftar, a meal to break the daily fast during Ramadan, at the President’s Residence, for Jewish and Muslim leaders.
19. In Tel Aviv, on Hanukkah at the giant Festigal kids’ music festival, the biggest applause was for actor Amir Shurush in his role as the devoted supermarket employee Ramzi Abed Ramzi on the popular TV comedy series Kupa Rashit (“checkout”). The theme this year was “Let Music Bring Us Together.”
20. Tel Aviv University invention: Self-repairing glass.
21. Says TAU scientist Yasmine Meroz, explaining how sunflowers dance together to grow better: “This is somewhat like a crowded dance party, where individuals dance around to get more space.”
22. Advertisement on Booking: “Renovated central four-room apartment with great terrace and bomb shelter. Ramat Gan. $424/night.”
23. According to Start-Up Nation Central, Israeli tech companies raised $12 billion in 2024 – yes, in 2024 – representing a 27% increase from the previous year.
24. Wiz cloud security sold for $32b. because it scans every layer of your cloud, identifying any possible risks.
25. Speaking of clouds, on January 1, a rare natural phenomenon of a slow-moving blanket of clouds glided over the Upper Galilee and Machtesh Ramon in the Negev, creating a breathtaking “blanket” effect.
26. “Machtesh” is an Israeli invented word used internationally for a geological landform with steep resistant rock walls surrounding a deep closed valley. The Big Machtesh, as every tour guide will point out, isn’t Israel’s largest. Machtesh Ramon is larger. The late astronaut Ilan Ramon changed his surname from Wolfenson to Ramon because he loved hiking there.
27. A popular nighttime tour in Mitzpe Ramon: Seeking scorpions hiding under rocks!
28. Beetles (scarabs), too. While peers abroad were playing in the sandbox, three-and-a-half-year-old Ziv Nitzan, when visiting the archaeological site Tel Azeka near Beit Shemesh, found a 3,800-year-old Canaanite scarab-shaped amulet.
29. King David found stones in Tel Azeka. He picked up five when he was 16 years old and knocked out Goliath.
30. Land of Milk and Honey: To deal with the decline in bee populations, Israeli BeeHero Pollination Insight Platform created a sensor to be installed inside beehives to analyze the stress levels of bees. New regional headquarters are opening in Australia as part of the bee-line expansion plan.
31. Land of Milk and Honey: Foodtech start-up DairyX is developing milk proteins in the lab, without cows.
32. Headquartered in Yavne, DairyX is a neighbor of the Israeli ice cream manufacturer of Ben & Jerry’s. Ben & Jerry’s Israel successfully fought the global company directive in 2022 and continues to sell ice cream throughout Israel. The company’s Be’er Tuviya plant is being replaced by a much enlarged ice cream factory in the southern city Kiryat Gat.
33. Also in Be’er Tuviya: Geva-Bot robots will be cleaning solar panels in Rajasthan, India. Who knew?
34. Haverim Le’refuah, an Israeli organization that makes medications accessible free of charge to those not covered by insurance, collected medicines discarded in Passover cleaning at more than 1,000 collection points.
35. Best news. Taub Institute research: Wartime baby boom. From January to May 2024, the fertility rate among Jewish women climbed back to 3.10 children per woman, exceeding the 2022 high.
36. Elevator speech. The parents are carrying their newborn baby girl in the Hadassah, Ein Kerem, parking lot elevator. All the people in the elevator suggest names: Teena, Hadas, Ilanit, Shaked, and more. Mazal tov.
37. What’s in a name? The winner of the first International Adult Bible Contest was Amos Hakham.
38. Despite death threats and boos, Israeli athletes brought home seven medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
39. Tom Reuveny and Sharon Cantor won gold and silver medals in the Olympic windsurfing event.
40. Israeli-made techy windsurfing boards by Future Fly boards include models called Flying Camel Foil and Yalla Beginner.
41. More wind. Israeli start-up Nayam Wings refits sails for merchant shipping, reducing fuel usage (and pollution) by an average of up to 35% per voyage. A co-founder serves in the Israel Navy.
42. Meteorological studies show that the biblical “strong east wind” (Exodus 14:21) could have split the Reed Sea.
43. Israel finished with a perfect record to win gold at 2024 IIHF U20 World Championship Division III, Group A, in Sofia, Bulgaria. That’s our Middle Eastern ice hockey team!
44. The Jerusalem Municipality provides cannisters to burn hametz before Passover.
45. 100 pairs of Hadassah staff and rehab patients ran together in the Jerusalem Marathon.
46. Tachlowini “Luey” Gabriyesos, who escaped from Eritrea at age 13 and still lives in the Hadassah-Neurim Youth Village, took second place in the Jerusalem Marathon. He has run in two Olympic Games so far.
47. Jenya Zabolotny, Luey’s teacher, sports director at Hadassah Neurim Youth Village, won the silver medal in hammer throw at the 2025 World Master Indoor Championships.
48. Israel’s marathon runners won four medals in the European Athletics Championships in Brussels. Gashau Ayale, Maru Teferi, and Haimro Alame finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the men’s competition, securing first place overall for the Israeli team. In the women’s race, Lonah Chemtai Salpeter won the bronze medal.
49. Israeli-American mathematician Dennis Gaitsgory won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for his role in the proof of the geometric Langlands Conjecture, which refers to the connection between numbers theory and geometry.
50. Technion-Israel Institute of Technology chemistry professor Ashraf Brik won the Rappaport Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Research for showing the use of proteins to treat cancer and Parkinson’s disease. Hailing from the Abu Snan village in the northern Galilee, Brik is one of 10 siblings.
51. Israeli film director Shira Geffen won the award for the Best Live Action Short Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival, Asia’s largest film festival, for her film The Event Horizon, about a girl who is forced to grow up overnight while on vacation in Israel’s desert.
52. Israeli fencer Yuval Freilich won the gold medal in the Doha Grand Prix in Qatar, a country with which we don’t have diplomatic relations.
53. Hapoel Tel Aviv, founded in 1935, won the 2024-25 BKT EuroCup and secured a prestigious spot in the 2025-26 EuroLeague.
54. Sign on a roadside south of Beersheba: “Careful, soldiers crossing.”
55. You don’t need a tree-hugger to tell you what a tree is feeling. Israeli-invented Psychtech uses sensors called dendrometers that can tell whether a tree or plant needs a drink.
56. Not just robots. A Hadassah Medical Organization surgeon is using mixed reality glasses to operate on the backs of soldiers and civilians.
57. Headline: Passover tours to Syria selling out fast.
58. Purple Haifa: Haifa may bear the nickname Red Haifa, but this year the beaches turned purple with the appearance of blue-purple marine creatures called Porpita porpita or “sea buttons.” Plus a purple predatory snail and blue sea ducks appeared on the beach.
59. Despite a tough year for Israeli wineries, the influential culinary magazine Wine Spectator selected Israeli wine (White Label 2021 produced by Flam Winery) for its annual Top 100 Wines of 2024. Then Psagot Peak was a double gold medal winner at the 2025 Wines and Spirits Wholesalers of America’s WSWA Tasting Competition. At the Città del Vino International Wine Competition, Israel took two gold medals and one silver, spotlighting three wines from the Judean Hills. The competition aims to emphasize the synergy between territories and their local wine productions.
60. The nonprofit organization Terra Uma is offering vinotherapy, helping people cope with stress and trauma by making wine.
61. The Binyamin Regional Council and Psagot Winery launched a special wine called Trump, toasting US President Donald Trump’s election victory.
62. Israeli start-up Solato found a way to whip up and freeze gelato, sorbet, and iced coffee from liquid in just 60 seconds. Yum.
63. Cuppa java. Israeli company Pluri is creating lab-grown cell-based coffee to combat the environmental impact associated with conventional coffee farming.
64. Israeli company Aporia’s artificial intelligence control tool Guardrails was named one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions, a list of pioneering innovations redefining the way we live.
65. Speaking of guardrails, Israeli vehicle tech company Autotalks has a new chip to protect electric bike and electric scooter riders by allowing their vehicles to communicate with other vehicles on the road.
66. Who’s counting? We are. Based on sightings, the gray crow (Corvus cornix) remains Israel’s most ubiquitous bird, narrowly beating the common myna (Acridotheres tristis) and the rock pigeon (Columba livia). A new song about the hoopoe (Upupa epops), Israel’s national bird (which did not make the top 10), was created as part of the Living Legend project by musician Shahar Even Tzur in collaboration with the Museum of Natural History.
67. The song “Always Loves Me,” based on words by Rabbi Shalom Alush, became a huge hit and raised a storm of controversy at the same time.
68. Viral photo: A 16-year-old girl in torn jeans passing out food to passengers on a bus stuck in a Jerusalem traffic while the religious woman who bought the food didn’t want to be photographed.
69. The new international Israeli TV drama series Kugel is the prequel to Shtisel.
70. Highest per capita rate of altruistic kidney donations is in Israel. Most donors are religious and haredi Jews.
71. The most popular girl’s name of 2024 was Avigail. One of the first wives of David, Avigail is described in the Bible as intelligent and beautiful.
72. Headline: Israeli bridal design dominates at New York Fashion Week “with cutting-edge designs and a deep understanding of modern brides’ desires.”
73. Bride and groom and early guests on the night of the Iranian missile attack: The events hall owner leads them into the safe room: a wine cellar. Le’chaim. The hall owner gifts the couple a repeat wedding when all their guests can attend. It’s mazal tov all over again!
74. Beersheba train station: Dozens of soldiers offer to carry our suitcases, even though they have their own rucksacks and weapons to tote.
75. According to the OECD’s most recent rankings of the most intelligent countries in the world, Israel comes in third behind Canada and Japan.
76. Israeli is still in the top 10 list of happiest countries (No. 8, down from No. 5 out of a total of 140 countries) after a lot to diminish our happiness in the past year and a half. That ranking includes all sectors of our society.
77. The Hebrew word osher means “happiness.” The singer of the top song on Israeli Apple Playlist for 2024 is Osher Cohen. Israeli poet Noam Horev’s bestseller is called A Draft of Happiness. A popular supermarket chain in Israel is Osher Ad. We say the prayer “Ashrei” (“Happy are those who sit in Your house”) three times a day.
78. The logo for Israel’s 77th anniversary is a graphic fusion of the Star of David and the number 77 in yellow, but depicted as a dual-sided bridge radiating beams of light – hope and optimism for the future. May we keep that light and optimism in our hearts.
Happy Independence Day!
The writer is the Israel director of public relations at Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Her latest book is A Daughter of Many Mothers.