Israel Active

Israel’s foreign ministry hosted its third diplomatic race for foreign diplomats up and down the hills of Jerusalem. The event raised funds for Shalva, an Israeli organization that helps children with special needs.

Israel has appointed George Deek, an Israeli Christian Arab, as the country’s next Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Born in Jaffa (Yafo), Deek has previously served as deputy ambassador to Nigeria, and Norway.

Israeli NGO IsraAID has sent an emergency response team to California in the wake of its deadly and devastating wildfires. IsraAID will distribute relief items to families in temporary accommodation and initiate activities to promote community resilience and recovery.

India’s Sandipan Dasgupta is a PhD student in Biochemistry at Israel’s Weizmann Institute. He summarizes Israeli water technology and confirms that Israel is thus rightly poised to be India’s strategic partner to help alleviate its water crisis that impacts some 600 million people.

On 4th Nov, the Israel Air Force’s elite Airborne Combat, Search and Rescue Unit 669 hosted elite units from the US, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Canada and Netherlands in Israel’s largest-ever rescue exercise. 669 unit has previously rescued over 10,000 people across the world.

Israel is hosting the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for a conference on promoting innovation. Established in 1889, the IPU represents the national parliaments of 178 countries and is the permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. It is the first time Israel has hosted the IPU.

An Israeli youth debate team has topped the EurOpen 2018 International Schools Debate Competition in Stuttgart, Germany, beating 30 other teams. The four members of Israel 1 made history by becoming the first team from Israel to win the tournament.

Avihu Sherwood runs the “For the Wildlife” Animal Rescue at the Dear Park Country Zoo, founded by Tzvi Adiv, on Israel’s Moshav Elishama, in Central Israel. Avihu tries to save any injured animal and reintroduce it into the wild – some 3,000 – 4,000 animals per year.

Tel Aviv University and AKIM have launched a training program for those with learning difficulties to become professional dental sterilization technicians. Skills include decontamination, assembling, packaging, and distribution of re-usable surgical instruments and equipment.

The Israel Audiobook Project provides children with reading difficulties free access to texts in audio, rather than written, form. Now they too can enjoy the pleasure of well-known children’s stories and their characters.