Netanya is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. 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.

Ra'anana is an affluent city in the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, c.1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where an important World War I battle had taken place four years previously.