Israel Active

If you arrived in the Jewish State less than 30 years ago, Israel’s Ministry of Absorption still considers you a “new Oleh” for the purposes of these free Israeli culture shows.

Colombian band Bomba Estereo is performing for the first time in Israel at Barby’s in Tel Aviv on 23rd July. Bomba Estereo has a characteristic cumbia style, or “electro tropical”. They will perform their latest album “Ayo”.

This year’s Jerusalem Film Festival (25 July to 5 Aug) features 180 films from 60 countries. The films are screened at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and other Jerusalem cinemas Events include meetings with filmmakers, cinema workshops, premieres, parties, shows and outdoor events.

IDF soldiers from nine countries competed to see who could keep a soccer ball in the air the longest. England came third; Belgium was second; but watch who won.

I reported (May 2017) that Israel were runners-up at last year’s Wheelchair Tennis World Team Cup.  They did the same in this year’s competition, beating Japan, South Korea, and the United States, before going down to Australia in the final.

Jake Silberlicht urges you to support Team Israel at the 2018 World Lacrosse Championships. 48 teams play in Netanya, Israel from July 12 – 21.

Israel’s soccer team didn’t get to Russia, but at least two Israeli tech teams did.  Mtech’s fire and smoke detection systems are protecting the stadiums in Volgograd and Nizhny Novograd. Meanwhile, LiveU’s transmission technology is used by Fox, Sky, Reuters, AP and Telemundo.

Ex-Beatle drummer Sir Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band performed a juke-box of 70s and 80s hits during their first-ever Israeli concert. He had a “little help from his friends” including lead members of Santana, Men at Work, 10cc and Toto. “It ain’t easy” at 77, but he was still entertaining.

From 31st July to 1st Aug Jerusalem hosts the largest street basketball event in Israel with more than 1,000 male and female players. Within the framework of the International Children's Olympics, Safra Square converts into a huge basketball area, with 17 courts facilitating hundreds of games.

I reported previously about the World Cup soccer event to be held in Jerusalem for Arab and Jewish kids. Here is the write-up of the 25th June event. It was organized by Kulna Jerusalem (“we are all Jerusalem”). Three more events take place on semi-finals and final match dates.