Israel Active

HBO has bought the global rights to the highly anticipated Israeli TV series Valley of Tears, based on the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It is said to have the biggest budget of any Israeli series to date. In Hebrew, the show is called “Sh’at Ha’neilah,” - the hour of the Yom Kippur Neilah service.

True Future TV began filming last year for its docuseries Season 4 that features Israeli medical technology (reported previously). Free online streaming begins 22 Oct. Host Joe Mullings found Israel to be “a nation on the cutting edge of medtech, healthtech, robotics and artificial intelligence.”

The Israel Start-Up Nation (ISN) cycling team has made history. It recorded its first-ever stage victory in a Grand Tour race when Alex Dowsett finished first on the 200km Stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia from Giovinazzo to Vieste. Teammate Matthias Brändle finished 5th.

Ex-Israeli pole-vaulter Noa Toledo now combines dance routines with her job washing windows of high-rise skyscrapers. She has some 65,000 followers on TikTok who enjoy her worktime sky-high hip-hop routines.

Gal Gadot of “Wonder Woman” fame appeared on Vanity Fair’s latest episode of Slang School, where celebrities hilariously break down slang terms and popular expressions from their native countries or related to a subculture.  Ma Pitom – Yalla!

An amusing and well-written tongue-in-cheek article, by newsletter fan David Herman, about the gender aspects of the official language of the State of Israel.

Britain’s David Pearlman has donated his collection of 130,000 postcards of pre-State Israel to the Hebrew University. They display the religious, political, architectural and social aspects of the land from the 19th to 21st century. Some have described them as “tweets from the past”.

Israeli singer Elkana Martziano, winner of Israel’s “The Voice” has teamed up with UAE’s popular singer Walid Aljassim to record a duet aptly titled “Hello, friend”. Appropriately it’s a very authentic Middle-Eastern / Mizrahi mix. Not sure about the snake, though!

Israel’s national soccer team midfielder Dia Saba is joining the Al-Nasr SC soccer team in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on a three-year, $3 million per season contract. He will be the first Israeli to play on a team in an Arabian Gulf state.

The “Aderaba Lod” Center for Ancient-Contemporary Innovation is a new educational-tourist visitor center, being built in Lod, Israel. It will present one of the most exciting chapters in the history of the Jewish people – the era of the “Tannaim,” the sages of the Mishna who lived 10 – 220 CE.