Israel Active

The US-led economic workshop in Bahrain had many positive moments. The warm welcome to Israeli journalists and their “delegate” badges; Bahrain’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist and that it was “there to stay”. Also, the service in the Bahrain synagogue, attended by US envoy Jason Greenblatt.

Twenty-two students celebrated their graduation as part of the inaugural class of Neve Midbar - Nitzana, a Jewish Agency youth village and boarding school catering to Bedouin high schoolers from the Negev desert region. They now have skills to enter Israeli society.

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin presented his awards for volunteerism to volunteers and organizations working to make art and  culture accessible to children, Holocaust survivors, ultra-orthodox women, IDF soldiers, Israeli-Arabs, the deaf, at-risk youth and low-income families.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented an Israeli Druze his pilot wings , he awarded honorary wings to several special volunteers. They included Tarc Tuba with Down’s syndrome, a cousin of the Druze pilot, who comes from the same Druze village. Other new pilots included identical twins.

Israel's Air Force will have its first Druze pilot when “Cadet G” receives his helicopter pilot wings shortly. Three other Druze airmen already serve as navigators – one serves as head of the school for the operational headquarters of the IAF. (Video shows one of them)

World Vision South Africa has chosen Israel’s WaterGen to help launch a mobile water generation project for communities in the Eastern Cape. WaterGen will provide safe-drinking water to 50 child development centers, up to 79 schools, four clinics and an estimated 3,400 households.

I reported previously on the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC) non-profit and its life-changing work in the Caribbean, Florida, Boston and Paris. The United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has now awarded the ITC Special Advisor status.

I reported previously on the many thousands of international students who have be helped by Israel’s Arava International Center for Agricultural Training.  This report focuses on 340 Kachin Baptist Convention trainee farmers from Myanmar.

Israel’s President Rivlin met with a delegation of 40 French imams and other French and Belgian Muslims in Jerusalem. They then crossed over the Green Line to meet Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.

There are excellent relations between Jewish and Arab communities in the Jordan valley. Over 6,000 Palestinian Arabs work in Jewish communities, rising to 12,000 in peak periods.  Arab farmers receive agricultural training and their quality of life has improved dramatically.