Netanya (, ), or Natanya (), is a city in the Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stream and the Wingate Institute in the south and the Avihayil stream in the north.
Netanya was named in honor of Nathan Straus, a prominent Jewish American merchant and philanthropist in the early 20th century who was the co-owner of Macy's department store. The of beaches have made the city a popular tourist resort.
In , Netanya had a population of , ranking it as the 7th largest city in Israel by population. An additional 150,000 people live in the local and regional councils within of Netanya, which serves as a regional center for them. The city mayor was Miriam Feirberg, who died in 2025.
History
Before the 20th century, parts of Netanya belonged to the Forest of Sharon, a hallmark of the region's historical landscape. It was an open woodland dominated by Mount Tabor Oak (Quercus ithaburensis), which extended from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra'anana in the south. Arabs who lived in the area used it for pasture, firewood and intermittent cultivation. The intensification of settlement and agriculture in the coastal plain during the 19th century led to deforestation and subsequent environmental degradation known from Hebrew sources.
thumb|Netanya in 1936
Netanya was established near the ancient site of Poleg by the Bnei Binyamin association in Zikhron Ya'akov. New York City Parks Commissioner, and president of the New York City Board of Health, who gifted two-thirds of his personal fortune to projects benefiting Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine. "Netanya...was named for Straus in the hope he would donate money to them. When he told them he had no more money to give, they were disappointed, but decided to keep the city's name anyway."
thumb|The fountain in the Independence Square. In 2012 it was moved to the west and an interactive electronic fountain was erected in its place
The funds for the project of building Netanya were raised by Itamar Ben-Avi and Oved Ben-Ami, who embarked on a fundraising trip to the United States to raise the money. In 1928 members of Bnei Binyamin and Hanotea, an organisation set up after Straus was informed of the establishment of the settlement, purchased of Umm Khaled lands. The first urban plan divided the city into three sections with a tourism district along the coastline, housing, farms and commerce in the center, and agriculture and industry to the east. That year also saw the completion of the Tel Aviv Hotel, the first hotel in Netanya, as well as the establishment of two new neighborhoods, Ben Zion and Geva. In 1940, the British Mandate government defined Netanya as a local council of which Oved Ben-Ami was elected head.
In November 1947, an Egged bus driving from Netanya to Jerusalem was attacked in Petah Tikva. In 1948, following the withdrawal of British forces from Netanya and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a large military base was established in the city.
On December 3, 1948, Netanya was declared a city in the newly established State of Israel. The Netanya railway station opened in 1953.
With Israel experiencing a wave of Jewish immigration from Europe, elsewhere in the Middle East, and North Africa, Netanya's population expanded. In the years following independence, approximately 14,000 Libyan Jewish immigrants settled in Netanya. The population reached 31,000 in 1955. To accommodate the influx of newcomers, the Israeli Housing Ministry built housing units of 50 square meters. The cornerstone of Kiryat Sanz, a religious neighborhood was laid in 1956. The first stock exchange built in Israel was built in Netanya. Such attacks were cited as justification for the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier which has proved effective in stemming suicide attacks.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Netanya became one of the primary destinations of French Jewish aliyah. Thousands of French immigrants settled in Netanya, influencing the local culture.
Geography
thumb|Iris Nature Reserve
Netanya is located on the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain, the historic land bridge between Europe, Africa, and Asia. The city is the capital of the Sharon plain, a geographic region stretching from the Mediterranean in the west to the Samarian hills in the east, and the modern-day Gush Dan metropolitan area in the south northwards to Mount Carmel. Although the capital of a densely populated region, Netanya itself is relatively separate from settlements to the north, south, and east, although, over time, growth has incorporated some into what makes up modern-day Netanya.
Apart from some small moshavim and kibbutzim, south of Netanya is relatively clear of settlement until Herzliya and the start of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Likewise, to the north is clear of large settlement until Hadera, and to the east until Tulkarm in the West Bank. The area to the east of Netanya does, however, have a large concentration of kibbutzim and moshavim in the Hefer Valley Regional Council and local councils of Kfar Yona, Kadima-Tzoran and Even Yehuda.
Netanya itself is divided into a large number of neighborhoods (see Neighborhoods of Netanya), recently growing southwards out of the city to create several high-end coastal neighborhoods with industrial areas inland. Netanya is home to the Poleg nature reserve and the Irises Dora Rainpool nature park containing the world's largest population of iris atropurpurea. At the center of the park is a rainpool which fills up with water in the winter months, and dries up over the summer months. Signs along the rain pool include information on the types of flora and fauna that populate the ecosystem.