Israel Active

The Grabski Rehabilitation Center in Migdal Haemek has installed a room with cameras and laser sensors, connected to computers and screens. By cutting the laser beams, the 40 patients can control sounds and create a computerized melody.

The portable “anaerobic digester” from Israeli start-up HomeBioGas turns kitchen waste and livestock manure into cooking-gas. It has become popular with Negev Arab Bedouins and rural Palestinian Arabs who previously damaged their health by burning wood or goat manure for cooking.

Film director Jules Dameron is deaf and uses the Israeli video messaging app Glide to communicate using American Sign Language both on and off the set. Glide has really caught on amongst the deaf community, as the youtube videos in the article visibly demonstrate.

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) is to start a three-credit course on ‘Developing technology partnerships between entrepreneurial firms in India and Israel’. Students will visit Israel and work in India with companies seeking Israeli tech partnerships.

Beverly Hills City Council and Israel have signed a formal partnership. It covers water conservation and management, technology and cyber security, public health, emergency services, disaster preparedness, public safety, counter terrorism and art and culture

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to give a one-time budgetary supplement of 900 million shekels ($230 million) to Israeli-Arab councils. It is designed to “integrate Israel's Arab citizens into Israeli society as equals among equals”, said the PM.

IsraAID Director Shachar Zahavi has announced a campaign to help Greece with the thousands of refugees washed up on the shores of Europe. IsraAID brings its experience of its program to help the Bulgarian Red Cross last year with its influx of Syrian refugees.

Israel’s Shenkar College's Fashion Design Department in Ramat Gan is among the five most influential fashion schools in the world and the 11th-best overall, according to rankings released on Sunday by the influential Business of Fashion publication.

Farmers in Israel’s Nahal Oz have been giving agricultural advice to Gaza farmers in Khan Younis. The Gazans are seeking new varieties of potato suitable for food such as chips. Israeli farmer Yankale Cohen said, “Maybe they’ll stop shooting at us because of the potatoes?”

Israel’s Economy Ministry and the Joint Distribution Committee-Israel (JDC) have opened 19 Arab-run Rayan Employment Centers serving 63 municipalities in northern and southern Israel. Since 2012 they have placed 9,100 Arabs, including many Bedouin women, in local jobs.