Israel Active

Dec 3rd was International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2021. Israeli emergency service United Hatzalah has highlighted some of the inspiring men and women who, despite their disabilities, continue to rush out and save lives in an effort to help those around them whenever they are needed.

Professor Alon Wolf, of the Israel Technion Institute Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, has won the Variety Israel Prize for Breakthroughs in Science and Technology award. His lab’s Helping Hands Project provides disabled children with bionic hands (see previously).

Israel’s Stratasys is part of “Restart’s Makers for Heroes”, an Israeli project to create innovative tech solutions that help injured soldiers overcome disabilities. They printed a comfortable, fashionable 3D neck brace for Moran Barash who still suffers 12 years after a debilitating injury.

Israel’s Dr. Daphne Haim-Langford is one of the three winners of the 2021 EU Prize for Women Innovators, awarded to founders of successful innovative companies. Dr Haim-Langford ( of Israel’s Eximore) is CEO of Israel’s Tarsier (targeting autoimmune inflammatory eye diseases)

Israel’s HomeBiogas (see previously) has won a UN contract to supply refugee camps in several African counties with systems to convert organic waste into cooking gas and fertilizer. HomeBiogas will soon distribute around a dozen systems in Africa, increasing over time.

The UK and Israel signed a new memorandum of understanding to work more closely over the next decade on cyber, technology, trade, defense, and security. A new UK-Israel Bilateral Roadmap “will elevate the UK-Israel relationship to a strategic partnership” for the next 10 years.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan together with Innovation: Africa founder Sivan Ya’ari held a program to showcase Israel’s technology and boost ties between the Jewish state and Africa. It was attended by 25 ambassadors from Africa.

The UN Conference of the Parties (COP15) on biological diversity chose the International Birding & Research Center in Eilat as one of the 19 (out of 258) most outstanding projects presented. Millions of birds migrate across Eilat - the only land-bridge connecting Eurasia and Africa.

15 firefighters from Florida, Ohio and Virginia who had worked with the Israelis at the Surfside Miami disaster, came to Israel for five days. They participated in a rescue training drill with the IDF Home Front Command and conducted a joint review of the Surfside rescue operation.

Chen Kupperman is founder of the non-profit Blend.ar (short for Blend Arabic) a unique Arabic language school in Abu Ghosh. Studies consist of formal classes, informal practice in small groups with Arab tutors, and involvement in the daily lives of the residents of the Israeli-Arab town.