Israel Active

Israeli organization “A New Way” connects Arabs and Jews through drama, sports, music, discussions, and volunteering. Initially a project between two schools in Kfar Kassem and Ramat Hasharon, it now serves many thousands (children and adults) in dozens of Israeli communities.

Israel’s SmartAID is helping give mental health support to at risk women in Afghanistan. They are also providing cell phones, data packages and solar battery packs. Separately Israel’s Global Development Corporation is rescuing Afghan refugees and even received praise from CNN.

Astronauts from Austria, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain are spending one month at the Ramon crater in Israel’s Negev desert. Organized by the Israel Space Agency and the Austrian Space Forum, the astronauts are simulating life on the planet Mars.

The compilers of the 2021 Digital Quality of Life survey, Surfshark, have asked that the source of the extract from the Times of Israel article in my last newsletter (see ) be attributed to them, which I am happy to do. Israel was ranked at number 4 in that survey, a rise from 8th in the 2020 survey.

Israel, UAE, Bahrain and Morocco issued a joint statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Based on U.N. Resolution 1325, the statement stressed the value of women’s influence on human-rights matters, peace, sustainable development, and security.

Professor Joshua Angrist has just won a share in this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on “natural experiments”. Prof Angrist made Aliya in 1982 but gained his master’s and PhD in the US. He taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Harvard, and MIT.

Israel is one of the few countries outside of the European Union whose “green passports” have been recognized by the EU and UK. It means that Britain now accepts Israeli visitors without requiring them to have negative Covid-19 tests before arrival in the United Kingdom.

Here is the story to accompany last issue’s photo of the check-in desk at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. Gulf Air flight GF972 was the inaugural flight for the new Tel Aviv-Manama route that will include two weekly return flights between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

On the beach in the village of Shavei Zion in the Western Galilee, three Arab and three Jewish lifeguards have been working together from sunrise to sunset, every day, since March 15.

Bedouin Arabs from the Jahalin tribe in Judea and Samaria turned one of their tents in Khan al-Ahmar into a sukkah (tabernacle) and invited Jews to enjoy Bedouin hospitality during the Sukkot holiday.