Israel Active

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”.

Germany’s public transportation company put Star of David stickers and “Shalom” on a Cologne tram, in blue and white, to mark 1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany next year.

MobileEye CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua and his wife Anat have launched the WE-19 foundation. It aims to grant NIS 100 million to small businesses and entrepreneurs who have suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic. NIS 50,000 will go to 2,000 startups, to give them a new lifeline.

The Israeli government is extending by 12 months Plan 922 - a multibillion-dollar program that aims to close economic gaps between Jews and Arabs in the country. $3 billion (a third of the budget) was unused. In addition, a further $1.7 billion will be added to the program.

The Israeli charity Value Sports has set up a new fund to support 100 sports clubs. It will provide financial grants for the clubs and scholarships for children whose families cannot afford participation payments. Sponsors include the Israeli Government and Sylvan Adams’ foundation.