Israel Active

Tel Aviv was among 28 cities designated by UNESCO as new members of its creative cities network, with a focus on media arts.

(Thanks to Stuart) For the past 21 years, thousands of visitors have been attending the annual Holiday of Holidays Festival in Haifa.  The festival falls on the crossroads of Hanukka, Id al-Adha and Christmas and has come to stand for coexistence and multiculturalism with theatrical and musical performances, vendors and art exhibits.

Five Israeli swimmers have qualified for this year’s world short course swimming championships in Doha, Qatar.  The organizers promised there would be no recurrence of the incident at Doha’s last event when the Israeli flag was erased on the display monitors.

(Thanks to NoCamels.com) A stunning design for the new Israel National Library has been released. The 34,000-square-meter structure will be located in the same complex as Israel’s parliament, the Israel Museum, the Science Museum and the Hebrew University.

Two Israeli films have made the “shortlist” of ten finalists for the 2015 Live Action Short Film Oscar and they were both directed, at least in part, by women. The two movies are “Aya,” by Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis, and “Summer Vacation” by Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon.

Israel’s Yarden Gerbi won first place in the under 63-kilo category at the Qingdao Grand Prix international judo competition in Qingdao, China.  The victory marks Gerbi’s third gold medal in less than six weeks, having also won international grand prix tournaments in Tashkent and Astana.

(Thanks to NoCamels.com) Israeli student Noa Raviv was chosen as the “Best Fashion Designer of the Year” at the international 3D Printshow event in Paris.  The designs only exist virtually and cannot be produced in the real world.  (In my opinion - probably just as well.)

The popular Backstreet Boys have rebooked their postponed Summer 2014 Ra’anana concerts for 19-21 May 2015.  Previously purchased tickets will still be valid.

In front of 30,000 fans, Israel defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 Sunday night to take them to the top of UEFA 2016 European Soccer Championship qualifying group B.  Israel had previously beaten Andorra 4-1 and Cyprus 2-1 last month.

US basketball star Tamir Goodman joined Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2002 to avoid playing on the Sabbath.  He also served in the IDF and married an Israeli girl.  Now as Director of International Business Development for Hapoel Jerusalem, he also runs camps for Israeli kids.  In August, he formally made Aliya.