Israel Active

Israeli and Palestinian Arab entrepreneurs toured the Dead Sea region to build upon Bahrain’s “Peace to Prosperity” economic workshop. They explored trade, agriculture, tourism and culture opportunities, visiting the Beit HaArava plant, the Kalia beach, an art Gallery and a Moroccan restaurant.

"Momentum," a program developed by non-profit Social Finance Israel, aims to boost the number of high school graduates from the Arab Bedouin city of Rahat. NIS 14.8 million worth of Impact Bonds have been sold, to help benefit 50% more students than the 1,200 in the current scheme.

The Jewish Samaria town of Elkana has the highest percentage of students receiving their high school diplomas – over 98%. In equal third place was the Arab town of Kaukab Abu al-Hija in the Lower Galilee with 96%.

The many events in Jerusalem last week included the Jerusalem Unity Prize awards.  They were given to three Israeli projects that promote unity and the Moishe House for the diaspora.

Arab-Israeli high-jump champion Hanin Nasser, 22, intends to represent Israel in the current 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships in Gävle, Sweden. Hanin won the recent Maccabi championship with a personal best of 1.79m - the ninth highest score in Israel's history.

I reported previously on Israel’s work to help the Indian state of Maharashtra with agriculture and smart city tech. Now Israel’s national water company Mekorot is helping Maharashtra implement a looped water grid, linking 11 dams to ensure that its reservoirs never run dry.

Israeli Ambassador to Macedonia Dan Oryan impressed the crowd at a capoeira belt (hand-standing) ceremony. He has previously performed in Tel Aviv and Moscow to support special needs projects.

At the week-long United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) the Israeli Mission to the UN will hold an event recognizing Israeli innovation. It will showcase Israel's revolutionary patents in the areas of water technologies, agriculture, social issues and more.

A bipartisan high-level delegation of US House members visited Israeli cybersecurity company Cobwebs Technologies during their visit to Israel. They saw how, with one click, authorities can identify connections between criminals or terrorists on social media and the dark web.

Dr. Yaakov Hoffman and Prof. Ari Zivotofsky, from Bar-Ilan University have brought 15 women (mostly Yazidi Kurds persecuted by ISIS) to Israel to share Israeli knowledge of how to help victims recover from the trauma.