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Religions - Judaism Quiz - Israeli History (Questions)

This quiz, Israeli History, includes wars and elections of the past.

Israel is the world's 149th smallest country in terms of area and 100th by population (it is home to just over 1/1000th of the world's inhabitants). Although predominantly Jewish, it has a sizeable Muslim population, and because of the freedom of religious expression guaranteed by the State, many other minority (as far as Israel is concerned) religions are also present.

1. In which war did Israel suffer the most casualties?
[ ] The Six-Day War
[ ] The War in Lebanon
[ ] The Gulf War
[ ] The Yom Kippur War
2. In what year did Hebrew became one of the official languages of Palestine under the British Mandate?
[ ] 1914
[ ] 1932
[ ] 1922
[ ] 1941
3. The leaders of Israel and Egypt at the time of the historic peace brokered by US President Jimmy Carter were ....
[ ] Prime Minister Menachem Begin and His Excellency President Anwar Sadat
[ ] Prime Minister Menachem Begin and His Excellency President Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein
[ ] Prime Minster Golda Meir and His Excellency President Saddam Hussein
[ ] Prime Minster Golda Meir and His Excellency President Hosni Mubarak
4. There was something unusual that happened in Israel in 1996. It was ....
[ ] the Israeli Prime Minister was elected in a separate ballot to that electing Members of Parliament
[ ] with 94% of the Israeli population (76% Jewish, 17.3% Muslim, 1.6% Druze) not permitted to eat pork products due to dietary laws, a pork dish was the runner up in the "Israeli Master Chef" television programme
[ ] 36 new television stations went on air
[ ] a self-standing, two-wheeled bicycle that didn't require stabilisers or a stand to remain upright was unveiled
5. In a survey in 2009 by the respected Guttman Centre, they found that the percentage of the population in Israel who didn't believe in the existence of God was approximately ....
[ ] 5%
[ ] 10%
[ ] 20%
[ ] 43%
6. The 1977 Israeli election produced a unique result. Was it that ....
[ ] the first apolitical celebrity was elected
[ ] the government was not led by the left
[ ] despite there being only 120 seats in parliament, there were 121 MPs elected
[ ] the winner of a by-election held six weeks before the election lost their seat
7. The Dead Sea or Salt Sea between Israel and Jordan ....
[ ] is the only place in the world where a small amphibian called the Salt Sardine can be found
[ ] is the lowest point in the world on land below sea level
[ ] phosphoresces during late Autumn
[ ] is used in the manufacture of medical corn plasters
8. While the northern reaches of Israel are temperate, the southern half of the country is very hot during the summer months and parts are designated as desert. Nevertheless, Israel ....
[ ] has more international marathon road runners pro-rata than more temperate nations
[ ] is a major exporter of ice
[ ] features agriculture as a major industry
[ ] has to import sand
9. While Israel became an independent Jewish state in 1948, Israel had in fact been promised independence ....
[ ] after World War I in 1919
[ ] after the Wall Street Crash in 1929
[ ] straight after the Second World War in 1946
[ ] when the Nazi's started coming to power in 1936
10. Only one insect is considered 'Kosher', and thus edible by Jewish people. It is ....
[ ] the wasp
[ ] the locust
[ ] the lugworm
[ ] the sandhopper

 

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Religions - Judaism Quiz - Israeli History (Answers)
1. In which war did Israel suffer the most casualties?
[ ] The Six-Day War
[ ] The War in Lebanon
[ ] The Gulf War
[x] The Yom Kippur War
This war began when the Arab coalition, led at the time by Egypt and Syria, launched a joint surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The Egyptian and Syrian forces crossed armistice lines to enter the Golan Heights (to the north) and Sinai Peninsula (to the south) respectively. Because of the surprise nature of the offensive, which took just over three days for the Israeli Defence Forces to suppress, over 11,600 Israeli casualties were recorded, although amazingly, there were no civilian deaths recorded
2. In what year did Hebrew became one of the official languages of Palestine under the British Mandate?
[ ] 1914
[ ] 1932
[x] 1922
[ ] 1941
The earliest instances of “written” Hebrew date from about the 10th century BC, mostly in the form of primitive drawings. However, by around 200 AD, Hebrew was no longer an everyday spoken language, and continued into medieval times as the language used in Jewish liturgy and religious rabbinic literature. Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of Israel (the other being Arabic), while Classical Hebrew is now used only for prayer or study. About 90% of Israeli Jews and 60% of Israeli Arabs are proficient in Hebrew
3. The leaders of Israel and Egypt at the time of the historic peace brokered by US President Jimmy Carter were ....
[x] Prime Minister Menachem Begin and His Excellency President Anwar Sadat
[ ] Prime Minister Menachem Begin and His Excellency President Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein
[ ] Prime Minster Golda Meir and His Excellency President Saddam Hussein
[ ] Prime Minster Golda Meir and His Excellency President Hosni Mubarak
A dramatic visit to Jerusalem by the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977 opened the way to the dramatic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. President Jimmy Carter invited both men to Camp David, outside Washington, and it was there they made an agreement in principle that was followed up by a treaty in 1979
4. There was something unusual that happened in Israel in 1996. It was ....
[x] the Israeli Prime Minister was elected in a separate ballot to that electing Members of Parliament
[ ] with 94% of the Israeli population (76% Jewish, 17.3% Muslim, 1.6% Druze) not permitted to eat pork products due to dietary laws, a pork dish was the runner up in the "Israeli Master Chef" television programme
[ ] 36 new television stations went on air
[ ] a self-standing, two-wheeled bicycle that didn't require stabilisers or a stand to remain upright was unveiled
In the general election of that year, the Prime Minister was elected in a second, separate ballot to that carried out to elect MPs
5. In a survey in 2009 by the respected Guttman Centre, they found that the percentage of the population in Israel who didn't believe in the existence of God was approximately ....
[ ] 5%
[ ] 10%
[x] 20%
[ ] 43%
It would appear that 20% of the Israeli population do not believe in God (although only 53% of secular Jews do believe in the existence of God)
6. The 1977 Israeli election produced a unique result. Was it that ....
[ ] the first apolitical celebrity was elected
[x] the government was not led by the left
[ ] despite there being only 120 seats in parliament, there were 121 MPs elected
[ ] the winner of a by-election held six weeks before the election lost their seat
In what was considered a surprising result, the Likud party led by Menachem Begin won 43 seats in the election (Labour achieved 32 seats). This was the first time in Israeli history that the government was not led by a left party
7. The Dead Sea or Salt Sea between Israel and Jordan ....
[ ] is the only place in the world where a small amphibian called the Salt Sardine can be found
[x] is the lowest point in the world on land below sea level
[ ] phosphoresces during late Autumn
[ ] is used in the manufacture of medical corn plasters
At 427 metres (1,401 feet) below sea level it is the lowest place on land on Earth and at 306 metres (1,004 feet) deep, it is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With levels of 34.2% salinity, it is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water and is such a harsh environment that it cannot support animal life, hence its name. The high level of salt means that you cannot swim "in" it, only sit or float "on" it. However, you must shower well on exit, as allowing the salt water to dry on the body in the hot climate during summer can irritate the skin heavily
8. While the northern reaches of Israel are temperate, the southern half of the country is very hot during the summer months and parts are designated as desert. Nevertheless, Israel ....
[ ] has more international marathon road runners pro-rata than more temperate nations
[ ] is a major exporter of ice
[x] features agriculture as a major industry
[ ] has to import sand
Agriculture is one of Israel's major industries, making the country almost self sufficient for food. It has reclaimed vast tracts of otherwise barren land for growing crops and its world-leading irrigation and water-desalination technologies are exported around the world
9. While Israel became an independent Jewish state in 1948, Israel had in fact been promised independence ....
[x] after World War I in 1919
[ ] after the Wall Street Crash in 1929
[ ] straight after the Second World War in 1946
[ ] when the Nazi's started coming to power in 1936
A number of countries in the Middle East gained their independence around the same time as Israel - Lebanon in 1943, Syria and Jordan in 1946, with Libya gaining independence just after in 1951, Egypt in 1954, Tunisia and Morocco in 1956 and Algeria in 1962. This gives further credence to the claim of many lost opportunities at the hands of the third parties involved in the Middle East at the time, with not helping to avoid the Palestinian crisis that Israel now finds it has straight after the Second World War in 1946
10. Only one insect is considered 'Kosher', and thus edible by Jewish people. It is ....
[ ] the wasp
[x] the locust
[ ] the lugworm
[ ] the sandhopper
While the consumption of virtually all insects is considered to be forbidden under the laws of keeping kosher, the rabbis of the biblical Talmud (Book of Jewish Learning) identified eight kosher species of locusts. Israel has seen locust invasions of recent and some people have taken the very novel approach to their pest control by eating them deep-fried or covered in chocolate