Israel Active

Rita Jahanforuz, 50 years old, is Israel's most famous female singer—and suddenly she's big in Iran. Iranian-born and fluent in Persian, Rita’s album went gold in Israel in just three weeks, despite being sung entirely in Persian. It also propelled Rita onto the music scene in Iran.

Israel’s chess grandmaster Boris Gelfand was just one game short of beating the world champion Viswanathan Anand at the Chess World Championship in Moscow. The Indian won 2.5 to 1.5 in the 4 tie-break “blitz” games after a thrilling final in which the matches were tied 6-6.

(thanks to Janglo). A broad spectrum of entertainment is available to visitors to the Jewish State this month. From Carmen at Masada to sixties band The Doors, to heavy metal band Sceptic Flesh. But don’t miss White Night Tel Aviv on 28th June.

British comic actor John Cleese has signed on to a film by Israeli director Reshef Levi. Cleese will play a disgraced, eccentric British lord in the heist comedy Hunting Elephants, in which three Israeli senior citizens help a 12-year-old boy hatch a plan to rob a bank in order to save his family home.

Here are some photos of the eight US actors touring Israel with America’s Voices in Israel (AVI). On their last day, they had a martial arts class at the Inbal Hotel Jerusalem.

Jonathan Frederick Togo and Omar Benson Miller (stars of CSI: Miami) and Carmine Giovinazzo and AJ Buckley (stars of CSI: NY) will visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Masada and the Galilee among other sites. It is the first time any of the actors have visited the Jewish State.

Superstar Madonna has arrived in Israel to start her 2012 world tour with a concert in Tel Aviv.

Following Israel’s success at the Euro swimming championships, Israelis also won gold in windsurfing (Shahar Zubari), judoka (Alice Schlesinger) and archery (Guy Matzk). Gymnast Alex Shatilov won bronze at the European championships in France.

The days surrounding the Jewish festival of Shavuot (Pentacost) are an excellent opportunity to enjoy the weather and explore on foot. Here are five suggested locations.

(thanks to Israel21c) The venerable touring jugglers/ball handlers glided into Israel last week for three shows – two in Tel Aviv and one in Jerusalem. They displayed some amazing magician-ship with the ball, tons of laughs, incredible baskets, and good, clean fun.