Buying Real Estate in Ashkelon: Knowledge is Power
Buying an apartment in Ashkelon With Ashkelon being one of the most popular cities for real estate purchases in the country, people looking to buy properties ask if they should go through agents or buy direct. There are pros and cons to using an agent which buyers should consider before starting to look. Dealing with the Seller When buying a property, dealing with the seller can be direct, through a sales office or through [...]
Ashkelon Restaurants
View Restaurants Now Ashkelon and the surrounding area have many amazing restaurants. With so many new residents and people visiting the city, we created a new section on the Ashkelon123 website for listings of restaurants and bakeries. Each listing has the address, hours and type of food served. You can sort the list by the cuisine, kosher status or ratings. Residents of the area have contributed reviews to help you find where [...]
Why an Ashkelon Photography Group?
Our goal in starting the group is a way to enjoy photography, while exploring the city. We don't need to get hung up on the camera, it is to use whatever we have to create an image that is beautiful or meaningful. The group is not meant to teach people how to use DSLRs (but there might be members who can do that), but to look at the subject and capture the image without [...]
Ashkelon Post-Thanksgiving Picnic
This morning, English speakers in Ashkelon held the first Annual Post-Thanksgiving Picnic at Ashkelon's National Park. The picnic was organized by Nechama and Rivka and was a well-attended event. It gave people a chance to meet the faces behind the many many WhatsApp and Facebook messages. With about 50 people in attendance, everyone introduced themselves and it gave us all an opportunity to catch up with old friends and to make new ones. One [...]
Ulpan Aleph is Starting in Ashkelon
The Ulpan at Beit Canada has an ulpan-aleph class that is just starting. The class meets in the mornings and runs five days a week. (There's a class this coming Yom Rishon (Sunday). The next ulpan-aleph course will begin in January. They are also taking names in order to start a continuing ulpan that will likely meet two mornings a week. To sign up or get information for either program, contact Meirav at 08-629-5577.
How to Transfer Arnona, Water, Gas and Electricity in Ashkelon
Welcome to Ashkelon! One of the first things that you will need to do is to transfer Arnona (property tax), gas, electricity and water to your name. The process is not difficult, but may require some patience. On the day that you take possession, start by photographing your water, gas and electric meters and write down the meter number of each meter. You might find that paying through a Horaat Keva (automatic bank withdrawal) [...]
How to Apply for an Ashkelon Parking Permit
Good news, bad news. The Iriya has announced that over the next few months, they will start charging for parking in areas near the sea. The good news is that Ashkelon is introducing a digital parking permit for residents to enable free parking near the beaches and reduced fees for parking in the city. Ashkelon residents can apply for a permit to avoid these parking fees and to get other discounts in parking (first [...]
Hebrew Workshops for Anglos
The city has offered to start a weekly workshop for Olim. The propose of the workshops is to give Olim a chance to learn about different topics and to discuss them in Hebrew, in a relaxed atmosphere, over a cup of coffee. The workshops will be held weekly and they will run about 1.5 hours each. This is a wonderful opportunity to practice your Hebrew, while discussing different topics. The Iriya needs a minimum [...]
Open Day at the Ir HaYayin Dig in Ashkelon
How often do you get to dig into into the lives of people who lived in your city, thousands of years ago? The Israel Antiquities Authority is offering an invitation to tour and do some digging at the Ir HaYayin Archeology dig in Ashkelon on July 26, 2021, between the hours of 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. There will be four tours, each starting at 4:00 pm, 4:30 pm, 5:00 pm and 5:30 pm. [...]
Research: Rise in Demand for Hadera, Netanya, Ashkelon and Modi’in
"The researchers concluded that while the Covid pandemic did not result in a revolution in the real estate market, it did cause certain changes in the preferences of homebuyers, which was expressed in geographical preference and a change in the composition of the size of apartments sought and the density of housing in the neighborhoods in which the homes were sought. "In geographical terms, the researchers found that there was a rise in demand [...]
Taxes Are Rising, but Ashkelon’s Arnona Is Still Low
By Stephen Epstein Ashkelon just announced that the city will be raising the municipal tax (Arnona), by 1.92 percent, which is the minimum amount set by the Ministry of Interior. While there are a variety of ways municipalities calculate municipal taxes, each city is able to charge residents different rates and increase beyond the amount mandated by the Ministry of Interior. When comparing Ashkelon’s Arnona rate to other municipalities, we see a big difference in [...]
Holy Sites in the Holy Land: Conflict or Co-Existence?
Ashkelon Academic College is offering a course called Holy Sites in the Holy Land: Conflict or Co-Existence? The following course depicts the ongoing disputes of Israel’s ethnic, national, and religious groups over contested holy places, compared to other noteworthy holy places around the world. The course will engage with the following questions: In what way do holy sites take part in disputes of the urban and spatial landscape? Who determines holy sites and their level [...]