Bnei Ayish () is a town and local council in the Central District of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Located around ten kilometers from

Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...

and adjacent to

Gedera Gedera, or less commonly known as Gdera (), is a town in the southern part of the Shfela region in the Central District of Israel founded in 1884. It is south of Rehovot. In , it had a population of . History Gedera is in the Book of C ...

, it had a population of in .

History

The town was founded in 1957. Before 1948, the area had served as a military base for

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

troops during the Mandate era. It was named after Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlezinger, whose name is abbreviated to Ayish. Bnei Ayish originally served as a transit camp for

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

in the early 1950s. Today its population is almost entirely made up of Jews of Yemenite descent and immigrants from the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

References

External links

Local council website
* Local councils in Central District (Israel) Populated places established in 1957 1957 establishments in Israel {{Israel-geo-stub