I highly recommend taking a Holy Land tour. I went on a tour specifically to entice people to emigrate, so they made it a point to show off a little bit of everything. The downside is with the exception of Jerusalem, you don't spend a lot of time in any given place. Though I did enjoy the road trip part of the tour with overnights in Kibbutz Lavi, Haifa, and Netanya. Its one thing to read about Israel, its another to actually go and visit.
I live in Haifa part time. My permanent address is on territories that Israel developed for political reasons or as some may say occupied. If one lives on that piece of land one can own what ever firearm they desire or as many as they desire. All you need to have is clear bill of mental health and store firearms in acceptable conditions that prevent unauthorized access to them.
As for Haifa or any other big city in Israel you are not allowed ownership of firearms unless you jump through lots of red tape or prove that you require carry permit. Its all depends on what you do for living etc.
Russian influence is all over Israel. 95% of all visitors to Israel are from former Ussr republics. All hotels have russian stuff. Native russian speakers compose roughly 40% of population. So Israel can be considered as one of Russian states that has shown Moscow a middle finger, but not completely got rid of russian mentality. Mixed culture and pro western views make it difficult in owning guns in Israel, but majority of gun owners have proper training and authorities know that it each person who has firearms can be prosecuted for improper use . So people behave accordingly
The tour group I was in had an excursion to the territories, particularly Hebron, and the others on the tour (who lived their lives in Brooklyn) were amazed people walked around armed. It was also an eye-opener to see rather nice developments/subdiviisons called "settlements" cheek-to-jowl with Palestinian villages.
One of the things I had never heard of before this tour were "Development Towns" where the Israeli Government tried to build up some urban areas where the locals would not have to drive hours to Jerusalem or the coast for things. Apparently they were not doing too well (because if people could afford to live in Jerusalem, they moved to Jerusalem) until the Russian emigration began in earnest, and they revitalized the development towns. The one we stopped in, with the exception of the Hebrew writing, could have very easily been mistaken for an American suburb/exurb.
Haifa and the area around it was flippin' GORGEOUS! Stayed at the Dan Panorama, nice walkable downtown. When the tour bus was going to Mount Carmel, the houses I saw reminded me A LOT of California. It was a shame we got there in the evening and didn't even stay a full day.
Israel doesn't have the same milsurp culture we have here. I ran a regional kibbutz armory back in the 1980s, and did a bit of up-trading with a few collectors I knew, but it was all fairly quiet dealings. No gunshows or re-enactor groups, and gunshops mainly handle modern defensive firearms. As my chaver above mentioned, private ownership of guns is actually not that common in Israel, but it isn't too hard to get issued a pistol in a number of occupations. I was able to issue licenses and guns to anyone in my area, and we also had a regional high school that had its own armory...as do many schools. I had my choice of some pretty neat milsurps to play with and kept a few at home with me. Most of the time I personally kept a Hi-Power, 'Eagle' Radom, Artillery Luger, and a sweet E. German AKM. Ah, the good old days.
Like it was explained to me "Israel has guns, but not a gun culture", not only did I never see a single gun shop, I only saw one military surplus store (on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem of all places). I also noticed that Israel didn't have much of a "car culture" either; all the interesting cars I saw were in the territories (and Bethlehem).
From what I saw in Jerusalem, anyone with a public-facing job (doorman, restaurant host, etc) was armed, and apparently they switched off and carried the "work gun" at the Prima Kings where I was staying.
Even without the requisite collecting culture, it still sounds like a lot of cool stuff ends up in Israel.