City of London Boys take the Etgar Israel title

City of London Boys again proved the team to beat at the Etgar Israel Challenge as they took the trophy for a second year running.

They did even better than last year’s inaugural challenge, scoring over 90 per cent to outstrip teams from JFS, Immanuel College, King David Manchester and JCoSS.

The year-eight students had to answer 100 multiple-choice questions on various aspects of Israel from history to politics, having tried to master the information contained in Etgar’s Israel handbook.

The 200 participants at the Shenley Cricket Ground represented three times as many as at last year’s pilot contest.

An Immanuel team took second place with a JFS team in third.

For the quiz, students had to answer such questions as what political party did Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion establish; when was Hamas founded; from which country did Operation Magic Carpet bring Jews to Israel; and which of these five countries was the odd one out — the United States, Ottoman Empire, Babylon, Britain and Egypt? (Answers below).

An Immanuel team won one of the creative challenges: writing a storyboard for BBC which charted one or more events in Israel’s history.
In the other, JFS students mixed the best-tasting Eurovision Mocktail.

Etgar co-founders Jo Rosenfelder and Adam Taub said it was “extraordinary to see the engagement from the students with some exceptional performances at all levels. The questions in the challenge were particularly difficult this year, and several teams rose to the challenge.”

Students took every opportunity to display their learning, they said. “ JCoSS even used their mocktail recipe as a chance to articulate the trials and tribulations of the founding of the state.”

The teams got in the Eurovision spirit ahead of this weekend’s event by joining in unison to sing last year’s Israeli winner, Netta’s Toy, led by shinshinim — Israeli scouts who work in Jewish schools — before a concluding Yom Ha’atzmaut barbecue.