Israel Active

On 30 Oct, thousands of Israelis will try to break world record for the largest beach clean-up. Volunteers will work at about 100 spots along the coasts of the Mediterranean, Kinneret and Red Sea, to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment.

The UK Embassy of Israel, and the UK’s Board of Deputies, are hosting an event on 28 Oct to mark 100 years of the Druze people joining the Haganah and to celebrate their contribution to the State of Israel. It will feature a lecture by Dr Amir Khnifess, head of the Ronson Institute for Israeli-Druze studies.

Ola Sergatchov, VP of corporate strategy at Israel’s Guardicore (reported previously) is good at multi-tasking. “On Friday morning I have on one ear a conference call and one hand mixing cholent, and with my foot I’m rocking the baby carriage,” she says. “That’s what my life looks like.”

Israel is to set to ban the fur trade - the first nation in the world to do so (only some cities and California have banned it). Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said, "Utilizing the skin and fur of wildlife for the fashion industry is immoral."  Even the BBC reported the news.

For World Food Day, the Israel Embassy in London. partnered City Harvest London and Eran Tibi of London’s Bala Baya Israeli restaurant to cook 1,000 meals for London’s needy. They will go to women’s shelters, children’s charities, the elderly and soup kitchens.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, met for the first time in Berlin, and together visited the Holocaust Memorial there. The event was also attended by German ministers.

For the second year in a row the NGO Transparency International ranked Israel in the four best nations for cracking down on bribery of foreign public officials by companies operating abroad. The survey rated 47 top nations, including 43 signatories to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

Jewish paramedic Yaara and PA doctor Zafer have developed the “Care and Transfer” app to help speed up the transfer of sick Palestinian Arabs to Israeli hospitals.  The two met at Tech2Peace a 12-day peacebuilding tech event for PA Arabs and Israelis.

Startup Negev (reported previously) is a new tech accelerator catering to Israel’s Bedouin minority. Its first graduates included a mixed team of a Bedouin father and son plus a Jewish couple who won NIS 50,000 with their homework platform for children with learning disabilities.

MIT Professor, Israel’s Regina Barzilay (reported previously) has won the Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence to Benefit Humanity from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.  It comes with an associated prize of $1 million.