Israel Active

Over 2,310,000 students started the school year at some 5,000 Israeli schools. New educational initiatives include innovative research equipment, extra staff at 6,000 kindergartens, smaller class sizes and expansion of studies in mathematics, English and the Hebrew language.

Meled Jerusalem is an alternative high school for Jewish students who struggled to fit into Israel’s mainstream religious school system. The school is led by its founder, development psychologist Dr. Menachem Gottesman, and described in his book “Not at Risk”.

I reported previously on Israeli startup ECOncrete, which develops eco-friendly concrete products. Its founder, marine biologist Shimrit Perkol-Finkel won the Western Europe nomination for the United Nations’ first “We Empower” competition for female entrepreneurs.

The UK Ministry of Defense has bought six of the latest anti-drone systems developed by Israel’s Rafael for $20 million to protect sensitive facilities from drones. The Australian Defense Force has bought Rafael’s Trophy Active Protection System for its armored vehicles.  

As Israel’s Muslim and Druze communities began celebrating the Eid al-Adha festival, PM Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video wishing them “Eid al-Adha mubarak”. He was proud that in Israel we have freedom of worship for all: Muslims, Druze, Christians, Baha’is, Jews - everyone.

The summer camp run by Camp Sunrise for children with cancer in Beit Yehoshua has 20% Arab children. The ones in Beersheba and Ramat Yochanan are nearer 50% Arab. The Jewish and Arab children forget their illnesses and differences and interact - just like kids do.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra performed at the Gabala International Music Festival in the Muslim state of Azerbaijan. The JSO was warmly received by music lovers during their second performance in one of the most important classical music events in Azerbaijan.

Israel’s government and NGO IsraAID have sent teams to the South-Indian state of Kerala to help victims of the floods that have displaced 725,000 people. The teams are providing urgent relief items and assessing the long-term needs of affected communities.

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Vilna, Lithuania to attend a summit of the Baltic states and meet with Lithuanian PM Saulius Skvernelis, Latvian PM Maris Kucinskis and Estonian PM Juri Ratas. The four leaders will discuss the deepening of cooperation between their countries.

I featured previously the water purification technology of Israel’s NUFiltration.  Now the company is to provide its unique water filtration systems to thousands of people in the Cameroon who currently have no access to clean water and are suffering a severe cholera epidemic.