Israel Active

An Israeli berry has won the Guinness record for the world’s largest strawberry. The 289-gram giant was grown at the Strawberries in the Field plantation run by the Ariel family in Kadima-Zoran, central Israel. The weather and late season caused multiple berries to combine, over 45 days.

Camp Eitan is a unique Israeli camp for older teens and adults with cerebral palsy or Down syndrome. It is run by volunteers from Avnei Eitan - a village in the Golan Heights. Whilst there is an age 21 limit at most other camps, there is no upper limit at Camp Eitan.

Worth reading these two articles describing how Hodaya Oliel (see previously) overcame challenges to become the first Israeli with Cerebral Palsy to qualify as a medical doctor.

Google Israel has launched a life-saving search engine feature that will help victims of abuse to get help. It recognizes search words and highlights helplines. After testing locally, Google will roll this innovation to other countries. Global incidents have increased by 300% during the coronavirus pandemic.

Shani and Osher run a store in Petah Tikvah full of donated items that those in need can take for free. They have set up special WhatsApp groups and invite needy families, single parents, elderly etc. to visit once or twice a month. The only limit is just one item of each kind.

3 Israeli women scientists have won Na’amat Prizes. Prof. Beena Kalisky of Bar-Ilan University won NIS 100,000 for her sensors to detect magnetic nanoparticles (even a single electron). Other winners were Prof. Shiri Artstein (Tel Aviv Uni) and Dr. Yonit Hochberg (Hebrew Uni).

UK-born Israeli Loretta Kay-Feld was commissioned to create two pieces of music for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. She said that tears were shed in the Royal Family when they heard her compositions “70 Years a Queen” and “The Queen's Soliloquy”. Loretta also wrote music for US presidents.

The Israeli Ambassador to Sri Lanka handed over aid including ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPEs) and pulse oximeters to Foreign Secretary Adm. Prof. Jayanath Colombage in Colombo. (See and for examples of previous Israeli aid to Sri Lanka.)

Israel and India celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations with each country lighting up historic sites and their leaders making special video addresses.

Tel Aviv ranked second globally as a Cleantech ecosystem on the Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) at the CleanTech Forum San Francisco. Tel Aviv came a close second after Silicon Valley and before key global hubs Stockholm, London, and Los Angeles.