Israel Active

Daniel Putterman co-founded Environmental Fitness, combining exercise and beach trash removal. He has personally adopted the 5,000-acre Nitzanim Sand Dune Nature Reserve, running up to three times a week, while hauling a sand sled to collect the trash.

Israel’s Shalva Band of musicians with disabilities performed “A Million Dreams” for the World Health Organization (WHO). They helped promote its Regional Committee for Europe online Conference on the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities.

Despite recent forest fires, the 2021 Global Tree Assessment reports that 45 of Israel’s 65 wild tree species are in the “Least Concern” category. 30% of the rest of the world’s 58,497 known tree species are threatened with extinction but only one Israeli tree - the Negev tamarisk is categorized as “endangered”.

The Israeli Embassy in Vietnam has distributed 500 packages of food and basic hygiene products to some of the weakest families on the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam. The coronavirus pandemic has caused destitution and each of the packages contains enough to sustain a family for one week.

Israel has risen from 8th place to 4th in the annual Digital Quality of Life Index 2021 (see for 2020 ranking). 110 countries were ranked on digital wellbeing based on factors such as internet affordability (Israel 2nd), quality (11th), and e-government services (29th).

Israeli-French-American Holocaust survivor and historian Saul Friedlander was one of the recipients of this year’s Balzan Prizes, for scholarly and scientific achievements. The prize, and 750,000 Swiss francs, was for his work broadening the perspective on the history of the Holocaust.

Time Out magazine has ranked Tel Aviv as the world’s “funniest” city, and eighth of the 37 “best cities” around the world. It also came second in the food and drink category and was the city most likely to be described by its residents as “good for people like me.”

IDF Captain Ella Waweya (see previously) has now been promoted to Major. She is the highest ranking female Muslim IDF officer. (See for highest ranking male Muslim officer.)

Former US ambassador David Friedman has established The Friedman Center for Peace through Strength. It aims to expand and scale up the Abraham Accords he helped broker in 2020 among Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Kosovo and Morocco.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog received the credentials of the new ambassadors of Mexico, Estonia, Spain, Greece, Vatican City, and for the first time Bahrain, upon the assumption of their ambassadorial duties to Israel. The IDF Orchestra played all their national anthems.