Israel Active

A day after severe floods sent animals from Georgia’s Tbilisi Zoo to towards city streets, a team of veterinarians from Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Safari and Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo arrived in the Georgian capital to advise zoo officials and dispense medicines and anesthetics.

Over 600 women attended the 6th annual Temech Conference in Jerusalem. The Hebrew and English tracks featured prominent speakers from across Israeli society. Temech’s support for religious Jewish women in business includes training courses and Jerusalem workspaces.

The number of people visiting Israel from Arab countries is increasing. 14,200 tourists from Jordan, Egypt and Morocco visited Israel from January to May. In addition, tourists from Moslem countries included 13,300 from Turkey, 1,900 from Malaysia and 9,700 from Indonesia.

The first-ever Arab Book Day was celebrated in a special ceremony at the Israeli parliament. The ultimate aim of the event was to underscore the role literature can play in spanning the divide between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Israeli Arab MK Issawi Frej said, “Books build bridges”.

12 Nazareth-based start-ups presented their technology to Tel Aviv tech investors in an event designed to introduce the relatively new start-up ecosystem in the Arab-city to its established Tel Aviv big brother. As one of the entrepreneurs put it, “If they can do it, we can do it too.”

(from PA news site) An official at the Palestinian liaison office told Ma'an that 300 Gaza residents were driven to Jerusalem via the Erez crossing to pray in the Al-Aqsa mosque. Israel traditionally eases travel restrictions during Ramadan.

There is no sign of the Palestinian Authority’s BDS policy in Bethlehem. During Kay Wilson’s visit, she saw plenty of Israeli products in the supermarkets. She saw some Arabs driving cars that the rest of us could only dream of. Kay’s Facebook post went viral.

100 German industry leaders are to visit Israel at the end of June. They include from SAP SE, BMW, Bosch, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Merck & Co., Inc., Mercedes-Benz and Lufthansa. They will attend an investors’ conference and meet Israeli innovators and researchers.

Goa has been actively wooing Israel to resurrect its agriculture since the 2012 Indian election. Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Narayan Bandeka met with Israeli consul general in Mumbai David Akov to discuss crop, post-harvest technologies and water management.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs has signed an agreement with Israel for cooperation in space. It was signed in Vienna as part of preparations for a world conference on space that will be held in Jerusalem in October.