Israel Active

Israel will host the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Jan 2015 - the first time for such a large-scale swimming event. The venue is the new Olympic-size pool at the Wingate Institute near Netanya, and anticipates around 145 million TV viewers.

(Thanks to Linda) The Jerusalem Conservatory Hassadna youth wind orchestra won the New York wind festival competition at Carnegie Hall. New York State communities hosted the 45 musicians who then gave a free concert to 200 at Westchester Jewish Center.

(Thanks to Barry and Israel21c) Israelis dance to the sounds of Pharrell Williams’s song “Happy” with background scenes of Tel Aviv / Yafo.

Israel’s Niv Adiri picked up an Oscar to add to the BAFTA he’d won previously for his team’s work on the sound of the multi-award winning film "Gravity." Also celebrating was Israel’s Arnon Milchan who co-produced “12 Years a Slave” which won the top prize of Best Picture.

The streets of Tel Aviv overflowed as 40,000 runners took part in the 2014 Samsung Tel Aviv Marathon. It was Israel’s largest professional running event. Ezekiel Koech of Kenya won the men’s event in a new course record of 2hrs 14 minute 40 seconds.

Our friend, Tel Aviv Radio TLV1’s Antithesis, will be busier than usual next week. Kol Cambridge’s resident DJ is getting married on Thursday. Looking forward to great music at his wedding.

This new biography is about renowned Israeli cardiac surgeon Professor Joseph Borman. One of his accomplishments was to save the life of critically injured soldier Doron Lancet during the 1967 Six-Day War. Doron went on to lead the Israeli team that helped map the human genome.

Jerusalem’s municipality is to invest NIS 22 million to encourage more film and television production within the capital. The television series Dig, co-written by Gideon Raff of Homeland fame, will be the first production to benefit from the initiative.

Israel was placed in Group B for the qualifying stages of the European Nations Cup 2016, with Wales, Belgium, Andorra, Cyprus and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The top two teams will qualify for the championship round.

Israel has just held its second annual benefit concert for Beit HaRav Kook, in honor of Israel's first Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook.