Israel Active

Israel’s Accessibe (reported previously) is in the news again. Its CEO, Shir Ekerling, says that Israel was one of the first countries to legislate regulations for web accessibility. Accessibe helps make websites comply with International guidelines for the 1.5 billion people with disabilities.

The Software Report’s Top 25 Women Leaders in Cybersecurity of 2020 includes 7 Israelis. Yael Ben Arie , Sagit Manor , Ola Sergatchov , Yuval Lazar , Nadia Malinoff-Kan , Dr. Dorit Dor and Sigalit Shavit .

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Sudan will normalize ties with Israel, becoming the third Arab country to do so in recent months, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The news was confirmed in a subsequent joint statement issued by the three countries.

Saleh Abdullah was the flight captain of the first commercial passenger flight from the UAE to Israel. He said. "If someone asked me a few months ago if I would be here making a speech in Tel Aviv, I would have said this is impossible". The agreements include 28 flights a week plus chartered, cargo etc.

In the Bahrain capital, Israeli and Bahrain officials signed a joint communique on the new “diplomatic, peaceful and friendly” relations between Jerusalem and Manama. Ministers also signed Memorandum of Understandings on finance, investment, trade, tourism, communications, tech and agriculture.

The Abraham Accords and (ironically) the Covid-19 pandemic have opened new avenues of investment for Israeli and Palestinian Arab entrepreneurs in Judea and Samaria.

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.