Israel Active

Terrorist rockets and threats didn’t deter the Polish soccer team from playing their Euro 2020 qualification match in Israel last week. The were rewarded with a victory.  And then the Argentinian national team (including Lionel Messi) played an international friendly match against Uruguay in Tel Aviv.

December 2019 in Israel offers a great selection of events and festivals for all tastes, ranging from major cultural festivals to folk music festivals, and from comedy tours, to concerts.

New Israeli stamps issued in November feature Israeli-invented board games Rummikub and Taki, Ethiopian-Israeli Jews’ Sigd festival and Weizmann Institute’s 70th anniversary.

The “People of the Book” are aptly named. The National Library of Israel is working with Google to digitize 120,000 books from its extensive collection of Jewish texts and upload them to the internet for public use. 20,000 rare and fragile books will be scanned in-house, the rest in Germany.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper opened the Stephen J. Harper KKL-JNF Hula Valley Visitor and Education Center in Northern Galilee. It features the latest virtual reality, multimedia and interactive exhibits on bird migration and the restored Hula Valley marshlands.

The European Athletic Association has chosen Jerusalem as the venue of the 2022 Under 18 European Championships for light athletics. Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor said it was an expression of confidence and support from European countries in the status of Jerusalem.

UK’s Nick Butter has just completed a marathon in every country in the world. Due to concerns, he left Israel almost until last. However, Israel’s Daniel Pearlman (originally from the UK) helped organize Nick’s Jerusalem run and Nick was delighted with the experience.

Heavy metal giants Iron Maiden have confirmed their first concert in Israel in 25 years will be at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium on May 30th, with Israeli heavy metal band Orphaned Land opening the show. Iron Maiden has sold over 100 million albums and played over 2,000 concerts.

“Zero.One” (27-28 Nov) is a Digital Art Festival in Jerusalem which explores the connection between human artistry and technology. It centers on the connection between light and shadow, between past and future, between actual and virtual. The Tower of David will be covered in lights from 7pm.

Condé Nast Traveler ranked Israel 15th in “Top 20 Countries in the World: Readers’ Choice Awards 2019,” Four Jerusalem hotels appear in the “Top 15 Hotels in the Middle East”. Some 600,000 readers submitted comments for the 2019 awards.