Israel Active

Israel’s annual bike ride “Wheels of Love,” broke records raising more than $3.5 million for ALYN - Israel’s leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital in Jerusalem. 600 cyclists (nearly a third from the US) cycled for 3 days in the Dead Sea region, followed by 2 days in the Judean hills.

In the municipal elections, Dr. Einat Kalisch Rotem became the first female mayor of Haifa - one of Israel’s largest cities. Other new women mayors include Yeruham’s Tal Ohana, Gezer’s Rotem Yadlin, Emek Hefer’s Galit Shaul, Drom Hasharon’s Oshrat Ronen and Beit Shemesh’s Dr. Aliza Bloch.

Amira Oron, former Israeli head of Embassy in Turkey, was named as Israel’s first female Ambassador to Egypt. Fluent in Arabic, Amira was head of Arab media at Israel’s foreign ministry. Women were also named as ambassadors for Spain, Latvia and Chile.

Israel’s culture and sports minister, Miri Regev, paid a state visit to Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque - the third largest in the Moslem world. “This mosque has a message of brotherhood and peace,” Regev wrote in the visitor’s book, in Hebrew. “I wish a good life and peace for all.”

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.