Israel Active

The bakers at Jerusalem’s Café Kadosh have devised the Abu Dhabi donut, “to appreciate the peace process”. Filled with cream made from dates shipped by the UAE’s Jewish community, it has a nougat crown topped with an edible gold leaf and sells for 22 shekels.

On the 40th anniversary of his death, a recording has surfaced of ex-Beatle John Lennon. He is singing in Hebrew, “Jerusalem, we have all sworn for eternity, we will not abandon you from here and forever”. Although an anti-religionist, he did claim to have a spiritual side.

Israeli NASCAR driver Alon Day has won the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Championship for the 3rd time in 4 years. He won a record 23 races this season with two still to go. Day is looking for a partnership so he can compete in NASCAR’s premier division, the Cup Series, in 2021.

Israeli actress Gal Gadot (reported previously) is to play a James Bond type super spy in the upcoming movie Heart of Stone. Meanwhile, her latest acclaimed movie Wonder Woman 1984 is now to be released on Dec 25 on the HBO Max live streaming service.

Just a few more evenings to watch the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra perform at 5pm Israeli time (10am ESD, 3pm UK time) every night of Chanukah.

Center Stage – the only permanent English language theater in Israel – is holding a live music online event on Dec 27. It is entitled “Endings and Beginnings” and features songs from the stage and charts that celebrate endings and beginnings.

The Music for Peace Festival in Eilat celebrated Israel's normalization deals with UAE and Bahrain. Its location was significant – next to the pillars of Solomon, whose Hebrew name means Peace. The event, on UAE’s National Day, was uniquely broadcast live on an Abu Dhabi TV channel.

Israeli rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram won the individual all-around title at the European Championships in Kiev. Israel’s rhythmic gymnastics team took gold in the group all-around category. Daria Atamanov won gold in the Junior clubs event. Apologies - last week’s Judoka gold medalist was Peter Paltchik.

Israel qualified for its 14th consecutive EuroBasket tournament, beating Poland 78-72. Due to coronavirus, Israel’s “home” match had to be played in Spain. With two matches to play, the team has a 4-0 record in the group having previously beaten Romania, Spain and Poland (away). EuroBasket begins Sep 2022.

Israeli windsurfer Yoav Cohen, 21, won the 2020 European Windsurfing Champion, held in Portugal. Shahar Zubari, a member of Israel’s Olympic sailing team, won a silver, as did Israeli teammate Katy Spychakov in the women’s category. This was Zubari’s fifth European Championship medal.