Western Asia
Video Chat with People from Israel
Hebrew is the main language you'll hear from people in Israel, Arabic is the other official language, and English is widely spoken, so most chats find a shared language quickly. Russian, Amharic and French are also common in many families. You might meet someone from Tel Aviv's beaches and cafés, the port city of Haifa on the slopes of Mount Carmel, Be'er Sheva at the edge of the Negev desert, or Eilat on the Red Sea.
Israel Standard Time is UTC+2, moving to UTC+3 in summer, an hour ahead of Central Europe, so evenings there arrive around lunchtime on the US East Coast. The weekend falls on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday is a regular workday. Food is a reliable topic, from friendly hummus debates to shakshuka, sabich and fresh pita, and so are hiking, beach days, music and the startup scene.
Israel at a glance
How to say hello
A few words of Arabic make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hebrew | שלום! | shah-LOHM | Hi! / Bye! |
| Hebrew | מה נשמע? | mah nish-MAH | What's up? / How's it going? |
| Hebrew | ערב טוב! | EH-rev TOHV | Good evening! |
| Arabic | مرحبا! كيفك؟ | MAR-ha-ba, KEE-fak | Hi! How are you? |
Tips for chatting with people from Israel
- Thursday night is a popular night out, since the weekend starts on Friday, while Saturday night is when most people wind down before the week begins.
- Hebrew is written right to left, usually without vowel marks, so ask them to spell names in English letters in the text chat.
- Ask Arabic-speaking Israelis which language they'd like to use; many are comfortable in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
- Keep it light at first: food, travel, music and favorite beaches are easy common ground. Learning Hebrew? Start with our Hebrew phrases.
Only meet people from Israel
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Israel, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Israel and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Israel, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Israel are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Israel borders 5 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: