Israel Active

Israel held a special event at the United Nations celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s liberation and reunification during the 1967 Six-Day War. Hundreds,of participants, including ambassadors and diplomats from around the world enjoyed a special performance by Israeli diva Sarit Hadad.

I reported previously about Israel’s work to clean up Lake Victoria. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has since been working with Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, to develop fish farms that have restored indigenous species of fish previously devastated by the lake’s invasive Nile Perch.

Israel is to build 150km of interurban bicycle lanes connecting the cities of Ra'anana, Herzliya, Ramat Hasharon, Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan, Givat Shmuel, Yehud, Or Yehuda, Rishon LeZion, Yehud, Holon and Bat Yam. The tracks will contain electric charging stations.

Israel unveiled a plan to give Jordan, Saudi Arabia and even Iraq access to the Mediterranean through Israel’s ports in Haifa and Ashdod, in a plan called “Tracks for Peace.” The Haifa to Beit She’an railway would link to the PA at Jenin and extend through Jordan, into Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

The Facebook group Israeli Women Entrepreneurs' Network (IWEN) has 700 members and helps Anglo female entrepreneurs in Israel. It recently organized a retreat for 43 members. They announced an Israeli first – a women's cooperative in Jerusalem for tourists’ gift shopping.

Muslim women in Israel are doctors, pharmacists, entrepreneurs, bus drivers, judges, IDF soldiers, etc. (see and ). Now Israel gets its first Muslim, female diplomat, when Rasha Atamny from Baqa al-Gharbiya becomes first secretary at the Israeli embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

I reported previously about Israel’s Champions of the Flyway bird race, that raises funds to stop illegal trapping of song birds in the Middle East. This year’s race raised over $60,000 to end the illegal practice of hunting and trapping songbirds in southern Turkey.

This article lists just some of the work of Israel’s overseas development agency MASHAV last year. Countries benefitting from Israeli agro-tech included Kenya, India, 11 Latin American states, Paraguay, seven former Soviet states and five African states.

Thousands of marchers generated a sea of blue and white flags along New York City’s Fifth Avenue for the annual Celebrate Israel parade. Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan represented Israel. He also launched a new anti-BDS campaign called “4IL”.

The Israel-US relationship is a bilateral bond from which both sides derive considerable benefit.