Israel Active

The Spring Chinese Dance Festival is a joint effort of the Suzanne Dellal Center and the Chinese Government. Performances will be held around the country, such as Ashdod, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Karmiel and Haifa. www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Arts/Article.aspx?id=302446 A sea of birds. Some two dozen international bird experts enjoyed a day exploring Israel’s winter home to the birds of the Kinneret basin, the Hula Valley and the Gamla Nature Reserve, prior to beginning a week-long seminar on GPS tracking of osprey migration paths.

A conference “Music and Brains: The Surprising Link — An Interface between Music, Cognition and Neuroscience” takes place from Feb 10-13 at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Participants will mix cutting-edge science with a variety of musical concerts illuminating the topics.

Israel's judo team has won two gold medals and a bronze in the World Judo Championship games being held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Ori Sasson won gold in the 100 kilo and under. Sagi Muki won gold in the under 73kg event. Assaf Chen won a bronze in the 81 kilo group.

(Thanks to Sidney) The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art on the crest of Mount Carmel in Haifa is dedicated exclusively to the preservation and exhibition of Japanese art works, and is the only one of its kind in the Middle East.

The legendary UK pop star Cliff Richard is to perform at Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena on July 11th. His previous visits include in 1988 for the 40th anniversary of the State. He even made the film “His Land” here in 1969.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat apparently announced that some kind of F1 race will take place on June 13-14. The exact route is yet to be defined, but it does appear that this summer F1 cars will be screaming past the Old City walls, and going through Mamila, and buzzing by the King David hotel.

The Israel Museum is opening a landmark exhibition "Herod the Great: The King's Final Journey" It will present archaeological finds from the recently discovered tomb at Herodium, as well as from Jericho and sheds new light on the impact of Herod's reign from 37 to 4 B.C.E.

The International Institute for Secret Jews (Anusim) Studies of Netanya Academic College and Casa Shalom (IISJAS)—Institute for Marrano-Anusim Studies is honoring HE Miguel de Almeida e Sousa, Portuguese Ambassador to Israel on 31st January. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-International-Institute-for-Studies-of-Secret-Jews/127599744000151

The travel guide "Lonely Planet" ranks Tel Aviv's beach as the seventh best in the world, rated after Barcelona, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney but ahead of Dubai and Miami. It wrote that Tel Aviv beaches are safe and clean, and there are changing rooms and freshwater showers scattered along its length.

Some 950 dancers from 30 countries – including Turkey, Egypt and Jordan – are participating in the annual International Belly Dance Festival taking place in Eilat's Club Hotel. The festival is the world's biggest belly dancing event.