Israel Active

In 2010, only 600 non-Jews served in Israel’s national service program. Now, 4,500 non-Jews (mostly Israeli Arabs) do national service, including 100 from East Jerusalem. Participants volunteer for one to two years in public institutions like schools, hospitals, courts or health clinics.

Israel is to allocate 1.41 billion shekels ($374 million) toward building public housing for Israeli Arabs and to lift restrictions from construction on private land.  The agreement with the heads of 15 local municipal Arab authorities will facilitate the construction of 30,000 housing units.

The Special in Uniform program proved that anything is possible when Shai Levi enlisted in the IDF to work at the Eilat Naval base.  Shai suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

Israel’s Knesset (parliament) has approved a bill allocating some NIS 500 million ($130 million) to the budget for after-school informal education for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. It will mainly teach workforce skills to ultra-Orthodox and Arab children.

Israel’s oldest charity Colel Chabad has established nine dental clinics to serve Israel’s neediest. They include Jerusalem, Afula, Akko, Ashdod and Netanya. Heavily subsidized prices make oral hygiene affordable for thousands of adults who would otherwise have no recourse.

Israeli startups won first and second place at the Global Innovation Awards 2016 in Beijing.  NiNiSpeech’s ingenious digital platform for speech disorder treatment, won first place, and AerialGuard’s, autonomous navigation system for unmanned aircraft, came in second. Each startup receives $200,000 cash.

In the first half of 2016, a record 88,800 trucks of goods were transferred to the Hamas-controlled enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in southern Gaza.

A good article summing up Israeli positive impact on the world.  It includes security, drought solutions, renewable energy, humanitarian aid and rescue missions.

Togo is one of Israel’s strongest friends in western Africa. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told his counterpart from Togo that his country’s ability in agriculture, together with technological capabilities will be shared with the West African nation.

IsraAID chief Navonel Glick has won the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for his work on crises throughout the world.  IsraAID has served in Haiti, Japan, the Philippines, South Sudan, and the USA during Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, the Colorado floods and the Arkansas tornado. It has also assisted Syrian refugees landing on Europe’s beaches.