Israel Active

Gal Gadot’s spy thriller “Heart of Stone” is number one on Netflix in 93 countries, including in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

Israel’s women rhythmic gymnasts won the silver medal in the 2023 FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup event in Milan, achieving the same score as Italy. They then made history at the World Championships in Valencia, Spain, winning gold medals in both the All-Around and the Combined events.

Israelis Shahar Shoshan and Lotan Giladi were part of the 5-person Vitality team that won $400,000 in the final of the Counterstrike event at the Gamer8 tournament in Saudi Arabia. The video and screenshot show Giladi’s keyboard on which he had printed the Israeli flag.

History was made when Marhu Teferi won Israel’s first-ever silver medal in the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. His 2hr 9min time was also a new Israeli record.  

Israel’s Lia Shalev, Guy Burshtein and Michal Baly won gold medals at the Ju-Jitsu Youth World Championships in Kazakhstan. Roi Shtoff and May Daniel won silver medals and Zohar Sela, Erez Malka, Ayman Halabi, Noga Reshef, and Maya Day won bronze medals at the event.

Spanish soccer club Real Madrid opened its youth training camp in Jerusalem. It welcomed 450+ teenage players from Israel, Morocco, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority.

The Hellenistic / Roman / Byzantine city of Hippos (Sussita in Hebrew) was established over 2,300 years ago in the Golan Heights. The new Sussita National Park (see previously) offers a glimpse of ancient life there.

Summer heat and humidity means that most public events in Jerusalem are held after dark. They include Sidra Tarbut’s cultural events; Selihot services, Mystorin Theatre Group’s RAAMSKATE, Theater in Motion, Street Orchestra, Israeli dancing, and Night at the Tower of David.

Israeli windsurfer Shahar Tibi won gold in the women’s iQFoil category at the Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Netherlands. It was Israel’s first world title at the sailing contest in a decade. Israel’s Katy Spychakov won the silver medal, with two other Israelis in the top 10.

Israeli judokas won gold, silver & bronze medals at the Hungarian Masters 2023 championship in Budapest. Inbar Lanir won a gold medal in the women’s up to 78-kilo category. Peter Paltchik won the silver in the men’s up to 100kg and Kerem Primo won the bronze in the women’s up to 52kg.