Israel Active

Israel’s MASHAV Agency for International Development is donating 270 Wheelchairs of Hope to children with special needs in Guatemala. Israel’s Ambassador to Guatemala Mattanya Cohen presented the first of the wheelchairs at a ceremony attended by Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales.

Israeli intelligence services (Mossad) aided Denmark in foiling a recent assassination attempt by Iranian agents. Mossad provided Danish security services with information which led to the arrest, in Sweden, of a member of the suspected Iranian terror cell operating in Scandinavia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Jerusalem and discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation. An updated trade agreement aimed to double the scope of trade is shortly to be ratified by both Parliaments.

The Israeli Embassy in Vietnam put on a large celebration in Hanoi to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Thousands of Vietnamese enjoyed a display of Israeli technology and a mass Israeli folk-dancing session.

A delegation of Israeli officials has traveled to Chad - a Muslim-majority country in central Africa. Chad cut diplomatic ties with Jerusalem in 1972 after a decade of good relations and cooperation, however the two countries have recently been quietly discussing the renewal of diplomatic relations.

Oman’s foreign minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah was interviewed on Al-Jazeera about the visit of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Israeli delegation, to the Gulf State.

2,000 of Israel’s 11,000 Armenian Christian citizens live in Haifa. They continue to maintain their culture, language, customs and social religious heritage.  The community in the Holy Land began prior to 400 CE and many more arrived after the 1915 massacres in Armenia.

21-year-old Corporal Yahya Mahamid calls himself a “Zionist Muslim Arab.”  He grew up in the Arab town of Um-Al Fahm. He loves Israel and wanted to “give back to his country.” He volunteered to join the IDF in a combat unit. His army colleagues treat him with respect and admiration.

“Excellenteam” is the new program for “Enhancement of Arab and Haredi Human Capital for the Jerusalem High-Tech Workforce”. It aims to tackle the shortage of skilled hi-tech workers, while increasing the participation of Israel’s Arab and ultra-Orthodox community.

Jerusalem’s Ono Academic College launched its two-year Disability Studies program in 2017. 40 students (Muslim and Christian Arabs, modern Orthodox and secular Jews) completed the first year’s theoretical component and 13 are now developing community-based group projects.