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Illustrative: Israelis smoke cigarettes and drink beer at a party in the center of Jerusalem, August 20, 2009. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
May 31, 2026, 4:43 pm
War stress reported as reason 37% of Israeli smokers lighting up
Among youth, 24% report use of e-cigarettes; 93% exposed to secondhand smoke; public anti-smoking campaigns and disturbing graphics do not appear to be effective deterrents
By Diana Bletter
Illustrative: Cannabis plants grown for medical use in Israel. (Chen Galili)
May 4, 2026, 4:27 am
Health Ministry panel seeks to halt use of medical cannabis in smokable form
Committee notes potentially harmful effects, spiking number of users; recommends stricter guidelines and a more limited use of the drug
By Diana Bletter
A patient's room inside the psychiatric hospital in Kfar Shaul, Jerusalem, July 31, 2012 (Noam Moskowitz/Flash90)
December 31, 2025, 11:02 am
Almost 1 in 3 Israelis say they need professional mental health support – survey
After two years of war, 39% of IDF personnel report needing support for mental health issues, 26% are concerned about depression, 48% have difficulty sleeping
By Diana Bletter
Yael Eckstein holding hands of an elderly woman, Netta, in Israel. (Credit: Olivier Fitoussi)
October 20, 2025, 2:00 pm
Israelis’ life expectancy rises to 83.8, making it 4th among OECD countries
Report shows dramatic rise in life expectancy of both men and women from 2022 to 2023, despite Israel investing only 7.6% of its GDP in health
By Diana Bletter
Graphic warnings on cigarette packages from around the world. (Courtesy/Israel Cancer Association)
May 29, 2025, 3:19 pm
Ahead of World No Tobacco Day, Knesset votes to require graphic images on smoking products
Israel is the 2nd country to mandate such warnings on e-cigarettes, as survey finds 31% of Israeli smokers have started or resumed lighting up due to stress since start of the war
By Diana Bletter
An illustrative photo of health workers. (istock photo/ nanostockk)
January 14, 2025, 6:40 pm
Israel’s health system showing ‘impressive’ resilience during war, report finds
But Taub Center researchers say that with workforce shortage, budget cuts, and 15,000 soldiers who now suffer from stress-induced trauma, the system faces serious challenges
By Diana Bletter
A woman passes a cigarette during a protest calling for the release of the people held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, outside the Defense Headquarters in Tel Aviv, November 3, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)
April 12, 2024, 9:10 pm
Stressed out by war, Israelis appear to be smoking more than they have in years
Soldiers, hostages’ families and others seem to be lighting up at increasing levels, reversing years of falling rates, but health experts aren’t pushing them to kick the habit yet
By Renee Ghert-Zand
People smoking in the smoking area in Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport, July 3, 2015. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
September 14, 2023, 4:03 pm
‘Have we not learned anything?’: Ben Gurion Airport reinstates smoking room
Health Ministry and health organizations denounce decision to give smokers a room in Terminal 3, with Israel Cancer Association warning it will ‘take Israel back to the 1950s’
By Renee Ghert-Zand and ToI Staff
Children eating peanut-flavored snack Bamba (Courtesy Osem)
August 28, 2023, 1:11 pm
Daily Briefing Aug. 28: A restructure for media outlets; Bamba back in school?
Political correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn on a proposal by the communication minister and health reporter Renee Ghert-Zand on allergens in school and anti-smoking steps
By ToI Staff
Illustrative. Cigarettes in an ashtray, October 17, 2016. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
August 22, 2023, 10:58 am
Health Ministry launches new plan to stub out worrisome rise in Israeli smoking
With 8,000 deaths per year tied to tobacco and increasing numbers of youth taking up vaping, special task force offers a dozen recommendations to address problem
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Teenagers vaping in a park. (iStock)
June 11, 2023, 9:57 am
With tobacco use on rise in Israel, kids and teens see their health go up in smoke
Bright colors, fruity flavors, and nicotine are getting kids as young as 12 hooked on vaping, while adults’ outdoor secondhand smoke is embedding itself deep in children’s bodies
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Illustrative: An El Al flight takes off at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv, October 25, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
October 28, 2022, 11:17 pm
Passenger, smoking, sparks fire in bathroom on El Al flight to Bangkok
Crew extinguishes fire, caused after cigarette butt ignites toilet paper in bathroom trash can; passenger to face legal action upon return to Israel
By Michael Horovitz
View of a Wizz Air flight taking off from Ben Gurion International Airport, September 3, 2014. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)
September 14, 2022, 2:04 pm
Flight delayed 5 hours at Ben Gurion as passenger demands to smoke weed
Passengers on flight to Romania, including the would-be smoker, rail at airline after announcement that luggage was not coming with them
By ToI Staff
Horticulturalist and activist Ed Rosenthal. (Christian Peacock/ YIVO)
May 11, 2022, 6:18 am
Is weed the Chosen People’s drug of choice? These artifacts suggest it may be
A new exhibit running through December at the YIVO Institute in NYC fires up the Jewish people’s relationship with marijuana from biblical times to the ‘Old Country’ and today
By Jordan Hoffman
An ultra-Orthodox boy dressed up in costume smoking a cigarette on Purim of 2011. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
March 13, 2022, 7:36 am
Cigarettes-for-kids Purim habit among Haredim must stop, pleads government campaign
On holiday when norms turned on head, there’s a phenomenon of Haredi kids smoking, despite dismay of some rabbis; Health Ministry says those children risk getting hooked for life
By Nathan Jeffay
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