Israel Active

Israel’s National American Football Team beat Spain 28-20 on its international debut. The game was good-natured and both coaches praised their opponents. The Israeli team advanced to play in European Federation of American Football’s B-Group next year.

Legendary British rock band Manfred Mann’s Earth Band is coming to Israel to perform at the Wohl Amphitheater in Tel Aviv on Sept 21. Born in South Africa, Manfred Mann (originally Manfred Leibovitz) is considered one of the greatest keyboardists in the rock genre.

The Jerusalem Biennale explores the meeting of Contemporary Art and the Jewish World of Content. The 2nd Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art will showcase the work of nearly 200 Israeli and international professional artists in 10 exhibitions hosted in seven city-center venues.

Israeli soccer champions Maccabi Tel Aviv have won through to the Champion League group stage where they meet Chelsea, Porto and Dynamo Kiev. Tel Aviv beat Swiss champions FC Basle in the 3rd qualifying round; Eran Zahavi scored his 7th goal of the competition.

The 18th Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival takes place Sep 3 – 12 2015. Musicians from all over the world will perform new compositions, rarely performed works, as well as popular chamber music works.

Israeli members of the 5 Club, Israel’s largest antique car club, met in a parking lot in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv to show off their restored motor-vehicle marvels. They included Jaguars, Corvettes, Oldsmobiles and a 1967 Ford Anglia, first produced when the UK declared war on Hitler in 1939.

“Cycling Academy” is the first Israeli team to enter America’s top cycling event - the USA Pro Challenge - America’s equivalent of the Tour de France. In its first year, Cycling Academy has won stages of the Tour d’Azerbaijan, the Tour de Berlin and the Visegrad 4.

Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko became the first-ever Israeli woman (and the second Israeli) to win a World Championships athletics silver medal when she came second in the triple jump in China. Her second round jump of 14.78 meters broke the Israeli record.

Israel’s Golan Pollack won the bronze medal in the under 66kg category at the World Judo Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan. The 23-year-old (23rd in the world) beat Davaadorj of Mongolia by landing a yuko with just 5 seconds. See the video for Pollack’s patriotic reaction at 6:15 mins.

Rotem, a sand cat at the Ramat Gan Safari, has given birth to three kittens. The sand cat is the only species of cat able to survive in total deserts but now exists mostly in captivity.