I've been using bicycle in Tel Aviv metro area throughout my life. This is really great. You can stop near any store or a pretty girl walking on the sidewalk, not worry about parking, and immediately go back to the road.
I think the major reason bicycles are not popular in Israel is social: This stupid snobism - bicycle is not respectable. I had a friend - an attorney - who used to tell me: "Come on - until what age are going to continue like this riding bicycle"? Moreover, when I suggested he would use a bus to go to work in Tel Aviv instead of his car, he replied: "Come on - an attorney on a bus - what will clients think about me"?
But it wasn't just him - many people think that a bicycle rider is someone who does not have money to buy a car.
This distorted thinking is typical to the snobish-wealthy society that mocks modesty.
I would like to inform the readers, that in New York area all senior managers go to work using public transportation. And in Japan, the streets are full with senior managers with suits and ties riding bicycle to work. In most Japanese cities, half the width of the sidewalk is for bicycle and half for pedestrians. This is truly beautiful.

Has nothing to do with it. The Jewish religion has a number of "chores" that must not be done in a Shabbath. One of them is closing a circle, or transporting stones, and another is lighting a fire. Since to run a car you must use combustion, they cannot do it, and feel other Jews must not be allowed to either. End of story. Not that I agree, I think they can shove how they feel others should act where the sun don't shine (*), but that's Israel for ya.

We should all come over here to Canada. Lots of open spaces here!

(*) Where The Sun Don't Shine is a cave in the rimward end of the Discworld, where, well, the sun never shines in. Dangerous attempts to look inside the caves have proven in contains various essays, statistics, opinions, and, possibly, the feeling of religious Jews about how the rest of us should act.
Just thought you'd like to know.

Whoops, time's up. See ya guys some other time, Your Uncle Travelling Editor.