Israel Active

An IDF soldier has broken the Israeli 200 meter backstroke swimming record and qualified for the 2012 London Olympics.

Detroit Pistons star Will “the thrill” Bynum has returned to Israel to host a basketball summer camp and repay a favour. Bynum’s NBA career was jump-started at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum is marking its 20th anniversary with an exhibition of ancient gold never before seen in public. Many of the items are well over 2600 years old and include artefacts from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Rome, Greece, Etruscan Italy and Persia.

Hassidic singer Avraham Fried is celebrating 30 years of his musical career by releasing an album that contains only original Jewish sources.

The first Dragon Boat Festival on Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) is to take place on May 17-18 next year.

The Monkey Park at Ben Shemen Forest had an exciting day, when it opened an open area for two of its mangabey monkeys.

In a special session at the Knesset, UK Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould and Sebastian Coe invited Israeli athletes to take part in the greatest show on earth.

Video of some of this year’s acts, including Dixieland Jazz and a ballet performed on 10-meter flexible poles.

Two Israelis have been organising a two-week music fest in Perugia, Umbria for the last six years.

Aged 76, Israel’s Teddy Kaplan was tons better than his nearest rival at the 2011 European Masters Weightlifting Championships in Germany.