Israel's streets are mainly named after plants, politicians, leaders, religious symbols, a few athletes, and more. The names of tens of thousands of streets in Israel essentially form a mosaic of Israeli society. We've compared the most popular street names and found surprising results.
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A special dashboard created by Roi Hazan, Manager of Analysis and BI at SenseCom, provides insight into street names in every one of Israel's towns and cities, allowing comparisons between the nation's greats, trees and plants, artists, and scientists using a single data point - how many streets are named after each, and where they are.
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Some of Israel's street names
(Photo: David Rubinger, Roy Edan, AP, AFP, shutterstock)
Main streets in various cities are often named after legendary figures (such as Dizengoff in Tel Aviv and Rager in Be'er Sheva), but at the top of the list, there's no mention of people at all, only trees and plants. And more precisely - the Seven Species. At the top is Olive Street, found in 196 different cities (247 including Olive Avenue). After Olive Street are: Vine, Fig, Pomegranate, and Date, all from the Seven Species.
Further down the list, you can find Almond, Terebinth, Oak, Carob, Pine, and even a flower - Anemone. The first street without a connection to plants is Founders Street, in 14th place (73 cities). After that, more trees, plants, flowers, and also a few gemstones - Topaz, Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond, and Onyx - each with over 50 cities and towns.
To reach the top personalities, you need to go down to below 40th place, where side by side you'll find one of the country's visionaries, Theodor Herzl and Revisionist Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky. Herzl and Jabotinsky have 49 streets each named after them, but with variations of streets with similar names (such as avenue, boulevard, etc.), Jabotinsky has a slight advantage over Herzl- 56 to 57.
First Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wins a close battle against his great rival, first Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin. There are 54 streets named after Ben-Gurion and 51 after Begin. In other past political battles, there's a clear winner. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995, is commemorated in 39 streets and roads, while his successor and rival Shimon Peres - only in ten.
Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has 27 streets named after him, and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - 18. Another former leader, Golda Meir, has 26 streets named after her despite her part in the Yom Kippur War.
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Netanyahu with no streets, Ben-Gurion with 54 and Herzl with 56
(Photo: Hadar Youavian, David Eldan, Ltd)
In most cases, it's not customary to name streets after living people, especially politicians. Therefore, there's no Benjamin Netanyahu Street. However, his fallen brother, Yoni Netanyahu is commemorated in 14 cities. In Jerusalem, there's also a street named after Netanyahu's father. Former President Chaim Herzog - the father of the current president - is commemorated in 28 cities and towns. His grandfather, Rabbi Herzog, in 23.
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President Isaac Herzog without any streets named after him yet
(Photo: Oren Ben Hakun)
There are exceptional cases where the honor of having a street named after someone is granted to living people. For example, all Israeli Nobel Prize winners (except the recent winner, Joshua Angrist) have received the honor of naming a street after them. Aaron Ciechanover - already six. The first of the Nobel laureates, the writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon (who passed away in 1970), is commemorated in 37 cities.
National poet Hayim Nahman Bialik is among the prominent figures in the list of street names, with 52 streets named after him. Shoshana Damari surpasses her great rival, singer Yaffa Yarkoni - 25 streets are named after Damari, while there are 18 streets named after Yarkoni. Ofra Haza is commemorated in 28 cities and towns, Naomi Shemer in 21, Arik Einstein in 10.
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Arik Einstein passed away about 10 years ago and has 10 streets named after him
(Photo: Effie Sharir)
What about the border adjacent towns? After the war, many streets in Israel may be renamed after the kibbutzim and towns where Hamas terrorists massacred Israelis on October 7. Even now, there are 17 cities with a street named Be'eri. There are also streets called Nir Am, Kisufim, Sufa, and Yad Mordechai (in Jerusalem and Giv'atayim) in more than one city. At the same time, Gaza Street exists in Jerusalem, where the prime minister's residence is located, and in another four cities, including Tel Aviv.
The troubling minority of women's names among the streets is also noted in Roi Hazan's dashboard. Only after Herzl, Jabotinsky, Bialik, Shabazi, Trumpeldor, Ehad Ha'am, Rabbi Kook, and Rashi does the first woman appear - the parachutist Hannah Szenes (in 32 cities). Dvora from the bible follows Szenes with 30 cities.
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Hannah Szenes' photo and notebook
(Hannah Szenes Archive in the National Library, courtesy of Uri and Mirit Eisen)
Dizengoff may be one of the most famous streets in the country, but apart from Tel Aviv, a street named after Tel Aviv's first Mayor Meir Dizengoff is found only in Netanya and Be'er Ya'akov. On the other hand, there may be some of you who haven't heard of Bayit Rishon Bamoledet, but a street with this name is found in no less than 51 cities and towns throughout Israel- most of them large kibbutzim. In fact, it was a project of the kibbutz movement to take in immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.