Israel Active

I reported previously on Israel’s Shlomi Lazmy, who won the 2018 Tenpin Bowling World Championships for the blind.  Well Shlomi has just won the 2018 gold medal as well.

Janglo and Leonie) The Israeli men’s team won the gold medal at the 2018 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships in April.  I didn’t report this at the time, but the videos have just been widely circulated. Israel also came second overall in the medals table.

Cyclists will soon be able to bike all the way from Mount Hermon in the north of Israel, to Eilat in the south - completing the 1,200 km Israel Trail for bikes. The Israel Lands Authority is to invest NIS 45 million over 3 years to build 600km of cycling paths and complete the national trail.

Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette marked her third performance in the country, in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,000 at Rishon Lezion’s Live Park. She performed her best hits, including “All I Really Want,” “Hand in My Pocket,” “You Learn,” “Head Over Feet,” and “Ironic.”

No, not a new washing powder.  Jerusalem’s Israel Museum is using Israeli on-line shopping app Zeekit to generate a virtual reality personal fashion show featuring pre and post-state clothes. Museum visitors take a “selfie” and in five minutes can see themselves wearing the exhibits.

This month’s Jerusalem events include the International Arts and Crafts Fair (till 18th), Puppet festival (till 16th), Water festival (27-29th) and 15 activities at 15 shekels each (last 15 days in Aug).

An exhibit at Tel Aviv’s port features 25 works by the award-winning Lego artist Sean Kenney of New York, who uses Lego bricks - thousands of them - to construct sculptures featuring famous sites, portraits, animals and objects from everyday life.  Open daily until 31st Aug.

Israel won an historic first-ever FIBA title at the Under 20 European Championship 2018 in Chemnitz, Germany. Israel beat Croatia 80-66 in the final.

750 boys and 750 girls aged 12 – 15 from 29 countries came to Jerusalem, Israel for the 50th International Children’s Games. They competed in nine sports: basketball, soccer, street ball, volleyball, fencing, judo, athletics, tennis and swimming.

From the Grapevine has launched a series of podcasts entitled “Our Friend from Israel”, featuring Israeli actors, academics, artists, archaeologists and much more. It is intended to show a side of Israel that is different to the one that the global media normally portrays. Please subscribe.