title: Bnei Ayish
text: # Bnei Ayish
  
  Bnei Ayish (Hebrew: בְּנֵי עַיִ"שׁ) is a town and local council in the Central District of Israel. Located around ten kilometers from Ashdod and adjacent to Gedera, it had a population of 6,895 in 2021.
  
  ## History
  
  The town was founded in 1957 on land that had belonged to the depopulated Palestinian village of Yasur. Before 1948, the area had served as a military base for British Army troops during the Mandate era. It was named after Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlezinger, whose name is abbreviated to Ayish.
  
  Bnei Ayish originally served as a transit camp for immigrants from Yemen in the early 1950s. Today its population is almost entirely made up of Jews of Yemenite descent and immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
  
  