Ra'anana is the city in Israel with the largest concentration of Anglos as a percentage of its population. According to rough estimates some 20 percent of its 73,000 residents originated from English speaking countries or are first generation descendants and therefore speak English as a mother tongue. This includes residents from the US, the UK, South Africa, Australia, Canada and Gibraltar etc. Furthermore Ra'anana has a long standing relationship with North America. Or more to the point with the Jewish community of that counrty.
Ra'anana was founded in 1921 by the Ahuza Alef Society of New York, one of several societies formed in the United States to purchase land in Palestine and establish Jewish agricultural settlements. On April 2, 1922, the first group of pioneers from the US and Canada, consisting of four members of the Ahuza society, three laborers and two armed guards, set out by wagon from Tel Aviv. They set up camp with tents then huts and proceeded to work the land. In its early days, the settlement was called "Raananya." The Arab neighbors called it "Amerikiya" because so many of the early residents spoke English.
