Israel Active

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visiting Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili highlighted the 2,600-year history of Jewish relations with the Caucasus country. The Georgian leader committed his Government and people to strengthen bilateral ties.

Haifa University’s International Child Development Master’s Program aims to improve the lives of children at risk worldwide, and is the world’s only fully funded academic child development program. 2017 graduates are from Uganda, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Liberia, Tanzania and Kenya.

11 promising young leaders from eight countries recently graduated from the Israel-Asia Center’s 2016-17 Leaders Fellowship program. Now in its sixth year, alumni are heading up Asia operations of Israeli companies, establishing Asian accelerators in Israel and setting up Israel-Asia ventures.

Eliezer Jaffe passed away aged 83, a week after receiving the Bonei Zion Prize for significant contribution to Israel. Jaffe founded Israel’s first academic school of social work, the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also founded the Israel Free Loan Association.

Israel’s Guy Cohen will take part in the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan - one of the hardest swims in the world. He is raising funds for research by Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center into Sudden Cardiac Death, which took his six-year-old daughter Netta 15 years ago.

I reported previously on Israel’s Tech-Career which has helped over 400 young Ethiopian-Israelis launch careers in the Israeli hi-tech industry.  Here is a more recent article about the work of this vital non-profit organization.

Thanks to "Refuah V'simcha," an organization which helps sick and needy people, Israel will have its first separate handicapped-accessible beach in Ashdod.  It will have an access route right up to the water line, allowing the physically handicapped to preserve their dignity.

As part of the Finance Ministry’s family assistance program, Israel is subsidizing afternoon daycare for all families. The Israeli Parliament also passed a law capping prices for after-school care.

Following Montenegro’s appeal to NATO for international help, Israel dispatched firefighters and 4 planes to assist the Balkan state in tackling devastating forest fires that have spread across the country’s coast. A new heatwave in the region is expected to cause further wildfires.

Israeli non-profit Haifa 3D prints prosthetic hands for children and adults at no cost. Haifa 3D volunteers receive assistance from Israel’s Technion and donations for computers, printers, plastics and all other parts. They even designed a hand that can hold a guitar pick.