Israelis were more curious this year about the release of kidnapped soldier
Gilad Schalit than they were about the goings-on in the Big Brother house,
according to Google Israel’s list of most popular news searches.
Google
released its annual “Zeitgeist” list for the Israeli version of its search
engine on Wednesday, which identifies the terms Israelis looked for most
frequently in 2011.
Schalit edged out Big Brother, Syria, Iran and Libya
for the honor of most searched news term, while Apple’s iPhone 5, the Hapoel Tel
Aviv sports club, the medical residents’ strike, trains and Bank Hapoalim
rounded out the top 10.
The list of fastest-rising general search terms
shows Israelis were easily distracted by online and mobile games.
Gaming
website Friv topped the list, ahead of the iPhone 5, the third season of popular
television show
Ramzor, iPhone games Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds, and Israeli
online gaming website Mikmak. Kika, the Austrian furniture brand that opened a
store in Netanya in September, and Israeli TV programs A Star is Born, Chosen
People and Naor’s Friends also made the top 10.
St.-Sgt. Schalit
predictably ranked first for fastest-growing “people” searches. The list also
featured four Mizrahi singers – Omer Adam, Eyal Golan, Dudu Ahron and Moshe
Peretz. This would suggest many Israelis disagree with the assertion made by
veteran singer Yehoram Gaon in March that the Middle Eastern genre is “garbage”
and “a natural disaster.”
Only two foreigners made the list, both of them
teens – Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber, who visited Israel in April, and his
girlfriend, American actresssinger Selena Gomez. Supermodel Bar Refaeli,
celebrity pastry chef Carine Goren and children’s star Yuval Hamebulbal (“Yuval
the Confused”) were also popular search terms.
Refaeli (No. 1), Bieber
(3), and Schalit (8) were the only persons to feature among the 10- most popular
image searches.
Other popular searches were for flowers, the iPhone 5,
love, Purim, hearts, the Israeli flag and the Smurfs – who are featured in a
recently released movie.
