Israel Active

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed their countries’ increasing security cooperation and called to deepen their economic relationship. President Rivlin spent a week visiting India, to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and New Delhi.

Israel has participated in its first NATO field exercise for six years during the wide-scale drill held in Montenegro to evaluate the readiness and capabilities of NATO to face natural disasters. The Israelis included IDF, Fire and rescue and Zaka rescue teams.

I have reported previously on Israel’s humanitarian organization Engineers without Borders (EwB).  Now the Tel Aviv University chapter of EwB has installed a solar electricity generator and storage batteries for the Nkaiti village medical center in Minjingu, Tanzania.

10% of public servants in Israel and 12% of police officers are immigrants who arrived in Israel less than ten years ago.  7,496 out of some 75,000 workers in Israel’s public health system have made Aliyah in the last decade (10%), and 4,191 in the last five years.

75 Canadians were among the participants of the 9th annual cross-Negev hike for the disabled, organized by OneFamily and Paratrek.  Hikers included those who had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and brain injuries, blind hikers and (for the first time) wheelchair users.

After five years, Israel and Turkey have resumed full diplomatic ties. Eitan Na’eh arrived in Ankara to take up the position of Israel’s new ambassador.

During Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales’ state visit to Israel he and Israeli Prime Minister signed agreements in agriculture, science, technology and security. He was honored at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University for Guatemala’s mobilizing of support for the 1947 UN partition plan that led to the establishment of Israel.

Germany is currently in charge of the UN peacekeeping intelligence unit in Mali and successfully completed its first mission using an Israeli-made Heron 1 drone. Germany has leased 3 Israeli Aerospace Industries Heron drones for $100 million.

Israel has just held its first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Experience Conference. The Maala CSR Index - set up to promote social and environmental innovation - comprises 98 Israeli companies that employ 310,000 with $94 billion sales – about one-third of Israel’s GDP.

Two decades after Ronit Budette became Israel’s first female parachuting instructor, 20 women have enrolled in the IDF Paratroop Brigade’s instructors course. Ronit was inspired by seeing the historic images of paratroopers reconquering the Western Wall from Jordan in 1967.