Israel Active

Loai Sakas, an Israeli Christian Arab won the under-75 kg kickboxing gold medal at the world championship kickboxing championships in Turkey. After his victory, Sakas draped himself with the Israeli flag, saying that his goal in representing Israel is to promote coexistence.

Israel’s Yaturu, in partnership with the Aspaklaria Theatre, have opened a new VR interactive experience at the First Station in Jerusalem. It tells the story of Jerusalem throughout the generations and includes an interactive game.

Matti Friedman discusses his new book on Leonard Cohen’s extraordinary tour for IDF troops on the Yom Kippur War front lines in 1973. The event will be held on Tuesday, May 24 at 19:30 at Jerusalem’s First Station (Tachana Rishona) and will be accompanied by a live band playing Leonard Cohen standards.

It was a lovefest for Adam Levine and the crowd at the first of their two Tel Aviv concerts, with the Maroon 5 lead singer raving about his reception by the estimated 55,000 concertgoers.  “I’ve never been in Tel Aviv and Israel and I have to tell you, this place is amazing.”

Eliran Shilon Rahav is considered the greatest Israeli promise in the field of chess, with a historic victory in the world championship up to the age of 10. His coach, Moshe Katzir, said of Eliran, “he is a chess player at a level that Israeli chess has never known”.

16 European soccer teams including Israel are competing in the Under 17 European soccer finals in Israel. There will be 31 games involving 345 soccer players beginning May 16 at stadiums in Ness Ziona, Lod, Ramat Gan, Netanya, and Rishon LeZion.

Seven elite Ukrainian athletes who fled their war-torn country with two coaches are continuing to train in Israel for competitions in Europe and South America. They are using facilities at Israel’s Neurim Youth Village, run by Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America.

The easyJet magazine’s introduction to Tel Aviv: “Tel Aviv is a whirlwind. It’s a city that never relents, with friendly locals who love a good time. You can go from grazing over delicious mezze to drinking cocktails on a rooftop to partying at a pop-up beach club – and that’s all before sundown.”

The Netflix streaming platform is to air Israeli historical melodrama “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” (see previously). The first 10 (of 20) episodes will be available on May 20 in selected locations, including the US, UK, France, and Spain.

Israeli judoka Timna Nelson-Levy won a gold medal (under 57kg) at the European Judo Championships in Bulgaria, only the second Israeli female judoka ever to do so. Israel’s Raz Hershko (over 78kg) won a silver medal, while Gili Sharir (under 63kg) and Shira Rishony (under 48kg) won bronze medals.