Israel Active

Several Israeli cultural events have attracted large paying on-line audiences. These include the Haifa International Film Festival (30,000), the Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival (61,000) and the Haifa International Children's Theatre Festival (2,500).

Tel Aviv’s annual "Loving Art. Making Art" festival (Nov 12 -14) exhibited the works of some 150 artists in public open spaces, 30 galleries and four museums around the city.

The Jerusalem International Oud Festival Nov 19 – 28 will be online, free of charge on the Confederation House Youtube channel and on Facebook. This year’s festival will focus on Israel artists.

As reported previously, TrueFuture TV’s new season features the Startup Nation and its innovative technologies that save and change lives.  TrueFuture’s host Joe Mullings was interviewed on I24 News. Also, a link to the on-going Season 4 (episodes 1, 2 and more). Keep watching.

Israel’s Inbar Lanir is the new women’s European Judo Champion in the Under-78kg category, having won the gold medal at the Under-23 European Championships in Croatia. Her compatriot Maya Goshen won the Under-70kg silver. Yehonatan Elbaz won the Under-73kg men’s bronze.

Israel’s Knesset has approved a plan allowing hotels and other venues to re-open in Eilat and the Dead Sea resort of Ein Bokek, transforming them into coronavirus-free “tourism islands.”  Tourists will need to present a negative COVID-19 test result from no more than 72 hours prior to entry into the “island”.

  New Hannah Senesh Museum. A new heritage museum honoring hero and poet Hannah Senesh has just opened just south of Haifa at Kibbutz Sdot Yam - the kibbutz that Hannah Senesh belonged to. Hannah was only 23 years old when she parachuted into occupied Europe to try and help Hungarian Jews during WWII.

The National Library of Israel’s sixth annual Docu.Text Film Festival (Nov 15-25) is going digital, with a special track for English-speaking international audiences. It features award-winning documentary films, Q&A sessions, and an array of special events. Free of charge with Zoom registration.

Jerusalem’s Beit Hakehillot museum under construction will take visitors on a tour of Jewish history, using multimedia and virtual reality, plus Jewish ritual objects and manuscripts. The $50 million renovation of an abandoned Protestant orphanage is Jerusalem’s largest landmark renovation of its kind.

When Israeli designer Koi Levi saw people walking in the street carrying their facemasks as if they were handbags, he decided to design a handbag that looked like a facemask.  He also designed one shaped like a padlock, as a play on the word “lockdown”.