| Rosh HaNikra | |
| Meaning: | Head of the Grottoes |
| Founded: | 6 January 1949 |
| Founded By: | Demobilised Palmach members |
| District: | north |
| Council: | Mateh Asher |
| Affiliation: | Kibbutz Movement |
| Pushpin Map: | Israel northwest#Israel |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 250 |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Coordinates: | 33.0861°N 35.1164°W |
| Website: | www.rosh-hanikra.com |
Rosh HaNikra (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַנִּקְרָה) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Mediterranean coast near the Rosh HaNikra grottoes and the border with Lebanon, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In it had a population of .
The kibbutz was established on 6 January 1949 by a gar'in of demobilised Palmach soldiers who moved there from Kibbutz Hanita, along with Zionist youth movement members and young Holocaust survivors.
It was built on the village lands of al-Bassa, which was depopulated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[1]
During the 2023 war between Hamas and Israel, northern Israeli border communities, including Rosh HaNikra, faced targeted attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian factions based in Lebanon, and were evacuated.[2]
The kibbutz grows bananas and avocados, and raises turkeys. In 1974, kibbutz members founded a biotechnology company called Rahan Meristem, which included the first commercial tissue culture laboratory in the country. Rahan developed new procedures for large scale, in-vitro, clonal propagation of over 200 plant genera including ornamental, industrial, fruit, and vegetable crops. In the mid-1980s, in-vitro propagated banana plants became the leading product. Rahan is now a center of research and consultation for the banana industry throughout the world. A formal R&D department was established in 1991 to provide technical support. Areas of expertise include molecular and classical genetics, plant cell and tissue culture, plant biochemistry and physiology, bacteriology and industrial biotechnology. Methods have also been developed for the control of contaminating microbes, early detection and elimination of somaclonal variation, reduction of labor and fixed costs in production, etc.[3]
In the early 21st century, the kibbutz was privatized.