Israel Active

The non-profit Jerusalemite Initiative organization empowers Arabic-speaking Christian Israelis in the Jewish state. Jews and Arabs work side by side, teaching the Hebrew language to help Christian Arabs integrate in Israel. See video of co-founder Elias Zarina.

14 special needs volunteers from a school in Petah Tikva have joined the Telem Unit in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate. Telem is responsible for infrastructure, logistics, and for relocating Military Intelligence to its new campus in the Negev region of southern Israel.

Arab Israeli Yoseph Haddad has founded Together – Vouch for Each Other which bridges gaps between Jews and Arabs, connecting Israeli Arab society to Israeli society. Arabs can be proud Arabs and proud Israelis. The Arab Israeli NGO also works outside of Israel to combat antisemitism and the BDS movement.

Jerusalem-based PICO Kids Ambassadors program flew 16 Jerusalemite students to a “Makeathon” at the Dubai Future Foundation. With UAE students they built prototypes for desalination facilities, vertical farms, and portable bottle caps with integrated filters.

A consortium of ten universities - nine in Europe and Bar-Ilan University in Israel - has won the EU’s prestigious Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree (EMJMD) grant, valued at more than €4.5m. It will help students study for a MSc in Chemoinformatics (Chemistry and AI).

Israel hosted a group of 16 young lawmakers from Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Sweden. Their itinerary included the Gaza periphery (Sderot & Iron Dome), Jerusalem (Old City, Knesset & Yad Vashem) and Tel Aviv’s startups.

A delegation of 12 ambassadors to the United Nations recently visited Israel. On a tour of the Entrepreneurship Center of the Unistream Association in Be’er Sheva, the students (from all social and geographical fringes of Israel) presented the startup companies that they developed.

Israel’s National Library has added 1,600 ancient Christian manuscripts to its online archive. The collection originates from Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, includes items from the 12th century and is said to be priceless for scholars of Greek Orthodoxy.

Elisabeth has been playing piano since the age of nine and has even played at the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. This prodigy pianist from Jerusalem has continued playing all the way through her service in the IDF.

A new Israeli soccer team, Hapoel Special Olympics, coaches youths with special needs, including autism and mental disabilities, with the participation of professional soccer players.