Israel Active

The Czech government has requested help fighting a large outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Brno. A team of 8 Israeli medical experts from Sheba, Hadassah, Shaare Zedek, and Bene Zion hospitals, as well as MDA paramedics is on its way to the Czech Republic.

Tova Safranai’s religious background inspired her to start helping homeless and at-risk youth. She setup the charity “Ahavat Hinam” when just 16. It supports Jewish, Arab, Christian, religious and secular youth living on the streets of Jerusalem.

A senior Jordanian army officer was airlifted to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem for urgent medical care after apparently contracting COVID-19. His condition had deteriorated and posed "serious concern for his life." He is said now to be stable but not yet out of danger.

The Israeli-founded Pafos Innovation Institute has been launched in Cyprus. It is modelled on Herzliya’s IDC and will offer graduate degrees, as well as innovation programs. Both Israeli and Cypriot Presidents made speeches, saying they looked forward to increased Middle East cooperation.

Israel’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Ronen Gil-Or, donated three respirators to Myanmar to help counter a recent spike in the country’s Covid-19 cases.

The Adir F351 squadron has welcomed Israel’s first female F-35 pilot, 26-year-old Captain S graduated from the IAF flight course in Dec 2016. She previously flew F-16s.

Israel offered to send an IDF search and rescue team to Turkey after an magnitude 7 earthquake collapsed buildings in the city of Izmir. Turkey’s military attaché in Israel, was told that Israel was immediately ready to dispatch a rescue team and set up a field hospital to treat the wounded.

Citizen Café Hebrew language and Israeli culture school was founded in 2015. Since the signing of the Abraham accords, there has been a surge in enrolments from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain. They include many in the business and tourism sector, plus Arabs who have Israeli friends.

Ten of Israel’s best firefighters spent two weeks in September fighting fires in California. At a recent America Israel Friendship League online presentation, the extraordinary cooperative firefighting experience was described in terms of a battalion of US and Israeli brothers.

Nov 1st is World Vegan Day and begins World Vegan Month, aimed at raising awareness of some of the unpalatable issues with meat / fish production and other animal-derived products. Latest statistics indicate that 5% of Israelis are vegan, 4% vegetarian and 8% “flexitarian”.