Israel Active

"Adif," a special consumer and social club for people in Israel with recognized disabilities, has been launched.  It offers monetary and consumer benefits and covers 50 disabled people's organizations. Adif undertakes to return 50% of its profits through projects benefiting its members.

A rare positive CNN report. Israeli Mariuma Ben Yosef ran away from home at 14 and lived on the streets.  She got her life back on track and set up the Shanti House, in Tel Aviv and the Negev, which has since provided over 46,000 young people with temporary housing and long-term support.

Israel’s BioFishency recently installed its aquaculture water-treatment systems in an Indonesian plant that raises Whiteleg (Pacific white) shrimp. The system removes toxic ammonia, cuts water consumption by up to 85 percent while increasing yield 2.5 times.

Israel's Sharia Courts handle personal status law issues like marriage and divorce for Muslim-Israelis.  The judges’ selection committee, headed by Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, appointed Ana Hatib as their first-ever female judge.

Israel’s JNF-supported Arava International Center for Agriculture Training (AICAT) has trained more than 16,000 students from Africa and Asia since it was established in 1994. Seeing the Israeli desert bloom inspires them when they return to their home countries.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem developed the Home Instruction for Parents and Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) in 1969.  It is used by 20,000 families in 9 countries including Canada, Germany, Israel and the US and is now being extended to China and South Korea.

Israeli Yael Farbstein, owner of Kedumim Honey in Samaria, won the International Multi-Floral Sourced Honeys of the Black Jar Honey Tasting Contest in North Carolina. Yael said of the wildflowers of Samaria, “There is something special in the nature here.”

Recent article about Polyphony, co-founded in Nazareth by Abboud-Ashkar in 2012. Polyphony’s aim is to bring together Arab and Jewish youth in Israel by offering them equal opportunities in music.

Israeli President Rivlin invited Arab teacher Jehan Jaber to his Jerusalem residence, to praise her for teaching Hebrew to Arab elementary school children. She played a darbuka drum and sang the catchy song “Geshem, Geshem Metaftef” (“Rain, rain is dripping”). The video has been seen well over 2 million times.

In order to better serve Jerusalem’s Arabic-speaking population, Israeli emergency medical service Magen David Adom is offering Arabic-language instruction to volunteers. 40 volunteers in the Jerusalem district have signed up for the first session of courses.