The top ten moments and trends of 2011

D''ash lists the biggest events in Israel this year.

By LAURA ROSBROW
Gilad Shalit 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Gilad Shalit 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Here are D’’ash’s top 10 moments and trends of 2011 in Israel. Let us know what you think!
10. Workers’ strikes: There were several workers’ strikes. Arguably, these were the first seeds of the social protests. In March, social workers striked and in May, doctors began striking for four months. Both strikes raised wages.
9. Big musicians came to Israel: This year, icons Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Interpol played in Israel.
8. Orthodox bus segregation case: On January 6, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that enforced gender segregation was illegal on Orthodox mehadrin bus lines. However, voluntary gender segregation is still allowed on all buses.
7. Israeli TV/film successes: Footnote won Cannes Film Festival’s Screenplay Award, documentary Strangers No More won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject, and Showtime’s Homeland was based on the Israeli series Hatufim.
6. Cottage cheese boycott: In June, the cottage cheese boycott began. It protested against the continuing rise in food prices. Hundreds of thousands stopped buying cottage cheese. In response, some stores eventually lowered prices.
5. Jerusalem light rail completed: On August 19, the Jerusalem light rail became open to the public. The project took eight years to complete! 4. Israeli chemist wins Nobel Prize: Israeli scientist Daniel Shechtman won the 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals. He is the tenth Israeli to receive a Nobel Prize.
3. Palestinian UN bid: Perhaps the most publicized and anti-climax of the year, on September 23 the Palestinians asked the United Nations to accept them as a member state.
2. Biggest social demonstration in Israeli history: On September 4, over 400,000 protesters attended rallies calling for social justice. It was the largest protest in Israel’s history. It was the height of a social protest movement that began in the summer of 2011, when thousands of Israelis protested housing prices by living in tents on major streets all around the country.
1. Gilad Shalit comes home: After five-and-a-half years of Hamas captivity, Gilad Shalit returned to Israel on October 18. No matter their political beliefs, every Israeli was happy to welcome him home.