Israel Active

The Sigd holiday, 50 days after Yom Kippur, is now celebrated annually in Jerusalem. Kessim (leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community) in traditional garb sat under colorful umbrellas. Buses brought tens of thousands of Israeli Ethiopians from all over Israel to participate.

2.5 million Israeli travelers will benefit from expanded public transportation discounts or free travel. They include 2 million children aged between 5 and 18, 280,000 disabled people; the blind and those accompanying them. Child benefit will increase by up to 34%, backdated to May.

Tel Aviv has the world’s best vegetarian restaurants, according to Conde Nast Traveler magazine. It recommends several, including a Georgian vegan restaurant and an Ethiopian vegan cafe. Israel has some 300,000 vegans, the highest per capita anywhere in the world.

A delegation of young Druze leaders from medicine, law enforcement and the IDF is visiting Boston, Los Angeles and New York, to spread awareness of their community’s unique place in Israel’s multicultural society. There are 104,000 Druze in Israel. 86% serve in the IDF.

A video to accompany my newsletter article from Israel21c about Hadassah Hospital’s “Heart for Peace” that has saved the lives of over 600 Palestinian Arab children.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter praised the Israeli solution to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). “The Israelis were really quite ingenious in this area and we got a lot from them. There’s no question that lives were saved as a consequence of their (help)”.

The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo donated $1,500 for an elephant hospital in Lampang. The check was delivered to the Thai Ambassador to Israel by a Biblical Zoo elephant named Tamar, who presented it to the Ambassador in her trunk. =

24 water experts from 10 Latin America countries took part in a water resources management course run by Israel’s Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation and MASHAV.

Specialist Israeli doctors are in Romania to help treat some of the 140 victims of burns sustained in a Bucharest nightclub fire that killed at least 27 others. The Israeli team brought a product called NexoBrid, which replaces surgery in severe burn cases.

Israel’s Tovanot B’Chinuch program enrolls volunteers from hi-tech, the IDF, and business to help kids learn math and develop study habits. The program focuses on children from poorer families, even providing sandwiches to ensure they have sufficient nutrition to concentrate.