A team from City of London Boys retained the Etgar Israel Challenge trophy for their school this year — by just one point.

In a tough competition, they scored 91 per cent on the Israel knowledge quiz, narrowly keeping out Habs Girls, who notched up 90 per cent.

Nearly 100 teenagers from five schools entered this year’s contest, which was held on Yom Ha’atzmaut last week to celebrate Israel’s 75th century.

Etgar said the results were exceptional with at least one team from each school scoring 76 per cent or more.

Etgar Israel 2023

Testing times at the annual Etgar Israel quiz for secondary schools

As well as being tested on their knowledge of the Etgar Israel Handbook, entrants were set two creative challenges: to craft an exhibit for Israel’s entry into the world Expo and to design a new Israeli sandwich that reflected Israel at 75.

Habs Girls proved the culinary queens, choosing ingredients that displayed a historic connection to the Jewish state.

JFS’s winning Expo exhibit described a story of romance on board The Exodus — the ship that tried to bring Jewish refugees to pre-state Israel in 1947 — which ended happily when the couple managed to swim to the shores of Tel Aviv.

Etgar founders, Adam Taub and Jo Rosenfelder, were “astounded” by students’ performance. “It was wonderful to see all of the schools perform so highly in the multiple-choice quiz. Each of the creative challenges was beautifully constructed, displaying a sense of pride in Israel alongside an acknowledgement of its complexities.”