Israel Active

The Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) has accepted the Bank of Israel as a full member. The NGFS helps financial systems manage risks and mobilize capital for green and low-carbon investments and environmentally sustainable development.

A study by Stanford University identifies the top 2% of researchers in various disciplines worldwide. It includes 333 researchers from Tel Aviv University, with 74 of them in the top 0.5%.

Researchers at the University of Haifa have discovered that a rock found in the Tabun Cave on Mount Carmel near Haifa may be the earliest grinding tool used by prehistoric man. The artifact dates to the late Lower Paleolithic era. No similar finds from this period have ever been discovered.

The Israeli Air Force has promoted Druze officer Awad Suleiman to the rank of full Colonel – the first member of Israel’s Druze community to achieve that rank in the IAF. Colonel Suleiman will head one of the IAF's elite drone units. (See article for other top Druze IDF officers.)

A US-Israeli delegation flew direct from Tel Aviv to Rabat and signed normalization agreements with Morocco. Israel’s head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben Shabbat (son of Moroccan émigrés) made a special Jewish blessing when he met the King of Morocco, Muhammad VI.

Israel’s Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef flew to the United Arab Emirates and after meeting Emirati officials he invested Rabbi Levi Duchman as rabbi of the Emirati Jewish community. Rabbi Yosef then toured the Jewish nursery school, community center and KAF restaurant in the Burj Khalifa.

The Embassy of Israel in Yangon Myanmar has donated 320 50-kg. bags of rice to support for a month over 1,000 people in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Myanmar’s Paletwa district.

The Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) has achieved its goal of establishing 50 member countries by the end of 2020. The latest pro-Israel parliamentary caucuses were formed in Honduras, Central Africa Republic, South Sudan and Cameroon. The 50th caucus, Honduras, is moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

Religious NGO KamaTech brought 300+ tech professionals from Israel’s orthodox Jewish communities to participate in a 24-hour event to help in the fight against coronavirus. Several solutions attracted the attention of Google, Pitango, Poalim Hi-Tech and Science Minister Izhar Shay.

On Dec 24, Lt. O (name concealed), originally from Boston USA, became the first U.S.-born woman to complete the Israel Air Force’s prestigious pilot course.  She was one of just 39 participants (two of them women) who completed the course, that began with 500 entrants.