Israel Active

Abd al-Mujid al-Hakim, director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Policy in Jedda, is a member of the Saudi Arabian delegation that recently visited Israel. He said, “The Israeli society that I encountered embraces a culture of peace, has accomplishments it wants to (protect), wants coexistence, and wants peace.”

Robby Berman decided that rather than give money to begging Arab children from Hebron, he would bring them to Jerusalem to earn money teaching Arabic to Israelis and tourists.  It turned into a unique “win-win” co-existence exercise.

The Bnei Brak organization Achiya is changing the lives of thousands of Charedi children and their families. Achiya employs 250 trained professionals to help over 8600 children with learning difficulties ranging from ADHD to dyslexia to down syndrome.

Tel Aviv has 25,000 dogs - the highest (1 per 17) per capita anywhere. They have access to 70 public dog parks and special beaches.  A no-kill shelter, a city patrol checks on animal abuse and 24/7 veterinary services for homeless animals.  Aug 26 saw the first ever Festival of Dogs of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

Israel is in the top category for battling human trafficking for the fifth year in a row.  There are several centers in Israel help victims of human trafficking and Israel has created a system of real-time cooperation between government offices.

The Israeli Knesset has passed a new bill to help single parents join the workforce.  Now, those on income support or child maintenance assistance are taxed only at the basic rate, irrespective of how much they earn.  It will help them pay for daycare for their children.

A team of 20 Israeli volunteers from IsraAID is the first foreign NGO to arrive in quake-struck Italy. IsraAID is building temporary shelters for homeless families, distributing food and other items, and providing grief counseling. Israel has also offered to send search and rescue teams.

Israel’s Sodastream was subjected to major boycott campaign when it employed hundreds of Palestinian Arab workers at its Maale Adumim site.  Since that factory closed, it has moved to the Negev where it now employs hundreds of Bedouin Arabs.

For centuries, Kurdistan was once home to thousands of Kurdish Jews.  Nowadays, the Kurds tend to see Israel as a role model for an independent Kurdistan; a small nation surrounded by enemies and bolstered by a strategic partnership with the United States.

Everyone knows that Ben-Gurion International Airport is one of the most secure airports in the world and in the Middle East .  Now a recent poll of Travel+Leisure readers’ has ranked it as the world’s sixth best global air hub.