Israel Active

I reported previously on Israel’s Dr Bill Clark combating poaching in Kenya. Now another Israeli, Ofir Drori, has launched the EAGLE network and put 1300 poachers behind bars in Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Benin, Togo, Guinea, Senegal, Uganda and Madagascar.

34-year-old Christian Arab Maron Halifah from Haifa is to become the legal advisor to the Ministry of Development in the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, making him the first Arab ever to occupy the position of a legal advisor in a government office.

Lyonpo Yeshey Dorji of Bhutan is the first minister from South Asia’s “Forbidden Kingdom” to visit the Jewish State.  He attended the graduation of Bhutanese students from the apprenticeship program of Israel’s AgroStudies and also visited several Israeli farms. Bhutan has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

10 Israeli companies are presenting their innovations to help Africa at a special exhibition at the UN. They include a portable greenhouse, polluted water detection technology, a device to produce water from air, solar tech to pump water and cancer diagnosis technology.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras said his country has signed an agreement with Israel for “cutting-edge technology” to help his army fight organized crime.  Hernandez said the agreement will be used to battle “the highest levels of crime in the last 15 years.”

Israel humanitarian organization IsraAID is operating in the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI), supporting displaced Christians and Yazidis living in camps and temporary shelters.  They are distributing blankets, mattresses and other emergency supplies.

I reported previously about the secret operation to get a blood marrow donor for a Syrian girl being treated for cancer in Israel.  The six-year-old girl has now recovered and has been released from hospital.

A soccer camp for Israeli children (50 Jews and 50 Arabs) featured a tournament in which the kids were split up into six different teams, each representing a “world cup” country. The tournament was all the more unique for being held in the Israeli-Arab town of Baqa al-Gharbiyye.

From October, the IDF will award full academic scholarships to combat soldiers, immigrants, minorities and the underprivileged upon their discharge.  They will be funded from donations to the IDF. It is hoped to eventually extend the scholarships to all service personnel.

Aharon “Ronny” Leshno-Yaar presented his credentials as Israel’s first ambassador to the 28-member NATO military alliance. NATO announced upgraded ties with Israel in May, recognizing an official Israeli representative and granting Israel a permanent office at its Brussels headquarters.