Netanya

Netanya (also Natanya, Hebrew: נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. Built on the land of the depopulated village of Umm Khaled, it is 30 km (18.6 mi) north of Tel Aviv, and 56 km (34.8 mi) south of Haifa, between the Poleg stream and the Wingate Institute in the south and the Avihayil stream in the north. Netanya was named in honor of Nathan Straus, a prominent Jewish American merchant and philanthropist in the early 20th century who was the co-owner of Macy's department store. The city's 14 km (8.7 mi) of beaches have made the city a popular tourist resort.