HISTORY

Netanya city, also spelled Natanya, is situated in west-central Israel. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, 19 miles (30 km) north of Tel Aviv–Yafo.

Netanya was founded in 1928 and named for the American-Jewish merchant and philanthropist Nathan Straus (1848–1931) - also the owner of Macy's department store at the turn of the 20th Century. The site was originally established as a non-collective agricultural settlement (moshav) devoted to citrus cultivation. Jewish immigration from Nazi-held European countries after 1933, and further immigration after World War II, gave it an increasingly urban character, and Netanya is now the focus of a large urban agglomeration.

Israel is one of the world's largest exporters of diamonds (this is the country's principal export to the U.S.) and Netanya is home to many diamond-cutters and polishers who came to Palestine primarily from Belgium before and during World War II. A new industrial area developed in Netanya since 1950–52 includes textile mills and factories producing rubber and plastic articles, complex machinery, and raw materials for the pharmaceutical industries. Just south of the city is one of Israel's largest breweries.

Netanya has also developed as a resort centre. As a coastal city of 300,000 people, it has a new image. It used to be known as a working- and small-business-class town that catered to tourists, and as a cheaper and less crowded urban alternative to Tel Aviv, one that had grown fast in recent years with new immigrants.