What are some lesser known facts about Israel?

 Israel is the only nation to resurrect a dead language, holds the world record for milk production despite being a desert, and solved a global pediatric crisis using a baby snack.

Peanut allergies are practically non-existent in Israel, and the reason is a ubiquitous, peanut-butter-flavored puffed corn snack called Bamba. Israeli parents typically feed Bamba to infants as soon as they can chew solid food. For years, pediatric guidelines worldwide advised keeping peanuts away from babies. However, researchers noticed that children in the UK had peanut allergy rates ten times higher than children of similar ancestry in Israel. This led to the 2015 LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) study, which proved that early, consistent exposure to peanuts prevents the allergy from developing, prompting a global reversal in pediatric health recommendations.

Geographically, the country forms a narrow land bridge connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, making it one of the most crowded bird highways on the planet. Twice a year, an estimated 500 million birds—including massive flocks of storks, pelicans, and birds of prey—funnel through this airspace to avoid flying over the Mediterranean Sea. The Hula Valley in northern Israel serves as a critical pit stop, where hundreds of thousands of migrating cranes descend to rest and feed before crossing the Sahara Desert.

Hundreds of common cranes gather to feed in the Hula Valley during their winter migration. Photo by מינוזיג is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

The linguistic resurrection centers on Hebrew. For nearly two millennia, it was strictly a liturgical and scholarly language, similar to Latin. It had no native speakers and lacked the vocabulary for modern life. In the late 19th century, driven by the efforts of lexicographer Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the language was reconstructed and adapted for everyday use. Today, it is the native tongue of millions of people, marking the only time an unspoken language has been brought back to life as a national vernacular.

Finally, the country's world-record milk yield comes down to heavily optimized, data-driven farming. Instead of relying on lush green pastures, Israeli Holstein cows live in specialized enclosures equipped with large misting and fan systems to eliminate heat stress. Their feed, health, and milk output are continuously monitored by computers, allowing them to out-produce dairy herds in the United States and Europe.

What are some of the most mind-blowing facts about Israel?

 1. Israel, along with Britain and New Zealand are the only democracies in the world to not have written constitutions.

2. Israel has 137 beaches but only 273 km of coastline.

3. Albert Einstein was once offered the presidency of Israel but politely declined.

4. Jerusalem, one of the world's oldest still-standing cities, has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

5. David Ben-Gurion, the founder and first prime minister of Israel, was an atheist.

6. In Israel, you can find hummus flavoured ice cream.

7. Banknotes in Israel (as well as Canada, Russia, India, Mexico, and Switzerland) have braille markings on them for blind people.

8. Along with Hebrew, Arabic is an official language in Israel.

9. All Jewish people between 18 and 26 years old are allowed a free 10-day visit to Israel.

10. Pakistani passports have an inscription that reads "this passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel".

11. El Al, Israel's national airline broke the record for most passengers on a commercial flight with 1,088.

12. In spite of its large media presence, Israel is very small. You can run across it from east to west in 2 hours and north to south in 9 days.