Israel Active

The International Astronomical Union invited the public to name an “exoplanet” discovered 1,500 light years from Earth. They selected the suggestion of an Israeli - “Aleph” - the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. They also selected the name for its mother star - “Tevel”, meaning Universe.

IDF Intelligence, Israel’s ImageSat International and an Israeli satellite helped locate the crash site of Chile’s C-130 Hercules plane that vanished in Antarctica with 38 on board. The Israelis significantly reduced the search area. Unfortunately, there were no survivors of the crash.

Whilst Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Portugal to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he also met with Portugal’s PM António Costa and Foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva. They agreed new joint ventures in defense, cyberterrorism, entrepreneurship, and agri-tech.

Ed Husain, writing in the UK Spectator magazine, claims that new maps of the Muslim mind are being drawn and old hatreds are on the run. He cites recent events in Oman, Abu Dhabi, the UAE, Dubai, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to suggest that this may yet be the decade of peace.

Israeli NGO Seeds (Zarayim) operates a bilingual and multi-cultural (Arab-Jewish) seminar. Its inclusive environment allows Arab and Jewish women to learn together, exchange ideas, build friendships and bridge the cultures. As a result, many of the Arab women become pre-school teachers.

Israeli non-profit Melabev works with people who have dementia and Alzheimer’s. Its centers are divided up by language (English, French, Russian and Hebrew) and by cognitive level. Malabev’s ethos is that the person has not changed, but the way to connect and interact with them has.

Israeli charity Yad Ezra V’Shulamit is distributing free winter coats, boots and blankets to thousands of Israel’s poorest children. The distribution includes only brand-new items, in line with the organization’s philosophy to bring not only warmth, but also self-esteem and dignity to recipients

In a recent Mastercard report, Israel was ranked the 4th best country for women entrepreneurs. Israel was narrowly behind the USA, New Zealand and Canada.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama hailed the work of Israeli engineers who are helping reconstruct and inspect buildings in the aftermath of the recent devastating earthquake. “They are from Israel and they are No. 1,” Rama said to a resident who was told it was safe to enter his apartment building.

The IDF’s Military Intelligence Unit 8200 helped thwart an attempt by ISIS to blow up an Etihad Airways plane flying from Sydney to Abu Dhabi. Their information helped the Australian authorities arrest the terrorists who have just been given long jail sentences.