Israel Active

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.

A3i is the world’s first and only “ability tech” accelerator . It is ready for another round of start-ups with products and technologies that not only will make money for their investors, but also improve the lives of millions of disabled people around the world.

A record-setting 20,000 people participated in Toronto’s 46th annual Walk with Israel fundraising event on Sunday, eclipsing last year’s record of 17,000.  The event raised approximately $1.1 million for Israeli charities.

Israeli genealogical website MyHeritage recorded family stories of some of the 800 native tribes in Papua New Guinea.  MyHeritage’s Golan Levi said, “no matter the color of our skin or where we live, deep down we are all basically the same and we all care very much about our families.

The Empire State Building in New York City will shine blue and white on June 5 – mirroring the colors of the Israeli flag – for the annual Celebrate Israel Parade and festival in New York City.

The Israeli Ministry of Economy held the first Israeli Food Festival in 25 Costco stores across Japan.  A separate Israeli food festival took place in Vietnam in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Israel has returned two colorful Egyptian sarcophagus covers from the 16th and 10th centuries BCE to Egypt amid warming relations between the countries.  The artifacts were stolen and shipped to Dubai to London and to Israel. They were found in an antiquities shop in Jerusalem's Old City.