Israel Active

Israeli produced food aid has reached the frontlines in Syria’s civil war.  Chairman of the Free Qunietra Provincial Council, Fahad a-Musa, said "since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, we have been unable to get our wounded to any Arab country. There is also a large amount of medicine, baby food, and other foodstuffs which get into the province from Israel."

I reported previously that Netanya beach had a special day when disabled were able to enter the sea using special wheelchairs.  Now Michmoret’s banana beach (a few miles north of Netanya) has wheelchairs available to hire that disabled can use to enjoy the sand and surf.

The Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem ran programs in the Purim and Passover holidays exclusively for families with children with disabilities.  The museum closed to the public and ran art projects, games, puppet shows and imaginative play for the special needs children and their siblings.

The Knesset House Committee has appointed Member of Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) Hamad Amar as Deputy Knesset Speaker.  Amar - of Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party – is a member of Israel’s minority Druze community.

The US Army is to protect its Armored Personnel Carriers with the “Iron Fist Light Configuration” active protection system produced by Israel Military Industries. The system uses radar and an electro-optical sensor to detect and intercept a range of incoming missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

London’s Heathrow airport is considering adopting the security system used at Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport, as a preemptive measure against possible ISIS attacks.  With at least 12 separate security layers, Ben-Gurion is one of the most secure airports in the world.

Abdullah Abed al-Rahman, 26, from Abu Ghosh Abdol states, “I am proud to be both Arab and Israeli”. Along with Orthodox Jew Michal Julian, he runs the Facebook page “Right Wing and Arabs Tweeting”, which aims to advance Jewish-Arabic coexistence from a Zionist point of view.

Software giant Microsoft has inaugurated a research and development center in Nazareth, a city comprising mostly Christian and Muslim Arab-Israelis.  It is Microsoft’s third R&D center in Israel, joining Herzliya and Haifa, where already more than 1,000 people are employed.

Yair Lapid, head of Israel’s Yesh Atid political party, wrote emotionally on Facebook about his special needs daughter Yaeli who has just finished serving in the IDF.  She volunteered for the entire year on a base of the IDF National Search and Rescue Unit.

Israel has sent $20,000 worth of supplies to Sri Lanka, following recent floods and landslides that have killed over 100 and driven 650,000 residents from their homes.  Israeli aid included water pumps, water filters, solar lighting kits, LED torches and 50,000 water purification tablets.