Israel Active

Vibe Israel seeks out the world’s top bloggers – people with the most power online and in social media - and brings them to the Startup Nation, to learn what innovations Israel has created in their field. The current project focuses on Informal Education.

The Prime Ministers of Israel and Albania signed a joint declaration of friendship in honor of 25th years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Other documents signed included a medical research cooperation agreement between hospitals.

Israel and Jordan have jointly published an $800 million tender to build a water-carrying canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The project will rehabilitate the shrinking Dead Sea and supply drinking water to Israeli, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

KKL-JNF is again distributing free Christmas trees to Israeli churches, monasteries, convents and embassies and individuals. The general public can also buy trees at a nominal cost.

Israeli startup Communer began by developing an app that helps Jewish communities to communicate better with their members. Communer has now evolved into providing a wide and advanced solution for all nonprofits and beyond.

Israeli non-profit organization Ofanim has retrofitted six old buses into mobile study labs in order to run educational enrichment programs for children in the North and South of Israel.

Israel was ranked 18th out of 188 countries on the 2015 UN Human Development Index (HDI) which analyzes economic strength, education, and health. Israel scored higher than Japan, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, all of eastern European, plus African and Arab countries.

Fifteen 12-year-olds from the Jewish town of Modi’in and 15 sixth graders from a Christian Orthodox school in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Ramle met for the third time to play baseball at the Baptist Village field in Petah Tikva. The program for sixth graders is called Baseball for All.

In 2015 the Israeli-American Council hosted five Celebrate Israel festivals that reached over 43,000 community members. It has established regional centers in nine US cities plus three community centers. Its annual conference attracted 1,300 delegates.

70% of the employees of Jerusalem café Bistro Harutzim have various special needs. The café, opened by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, is operated under the auspices of SHEKEL, which enables people with disabilities to enjoy a better quality of life and integrate naturally into the community.