Israel Active

Israel has provided permits for 100 Palestinian Arab doctors to work in Israeli hospitals. It halves the time taken to drive into Jerusalem from Judea and Samaria.

Israel held a ceremony to honor the six divers who discovered 2,600 gold coins on the seabed near Caesarea (see newsletter). Also invited were Israeli Druze leaders, as most of the coins bore the name of their founder, Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi Amr Allah.

An article written by Israel21c about special swimmer Mati Oren has helped raise NIS 300,000 to send 40 special Israeli athletes to the July World Games in Los Angeles.

Avraham Naguise was born in Ethiopia and became a shepherd in his village. He immigrated to Israel in 1985, obtained degrees in social work and law and a PhD in education. He entered politics and in March became a member of the Israeli Knesset.

Breaking news of the Nepal 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal, which has caused thousands of casualties. Israeli humanitarian organization IsraAID and the IDF are sending emergency relief teams. Readers can contribute to the IsraAID mission using the globalgiving.org link.

Ilit Geller is CEO of Israel’s TradAir. TradAir’s systems allow smaller banks to trade high volumes of foreign exchange currency – and get a slice of the profits normally only available to large multinationals. Ilit also has broken into an area of finance that is traditionally a man’s world.

At Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan zoo, one of the keepers placed a camera at the bottom of animals’ water troughs to find out how they drink. An innovative way to mark Earth Day.

Another video of the multi-cultural youth team Maccabi Haifa Nahalal. This time the focus is on the captain, Aaron, from the Circassian (Sunni Muslim) village of Kafr Kama.

Sir Paul Nurse, president of UK’s Royal Society, and Professor Ruth Arnon, president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities have signed an agreement that provides funding for 12-15 post-doctorate exchange fellows to conduct joint research in each country.

The all-volunteer Israel Lawn Bowls Association for the Blind coaches 50 adults with visual disabilities at clubs in Israel. Israeli blind and partially sighted bowlers recently won 2 gold and 3 bronze medals at the 2015 International Bowls for the Disabled World Championships in New Zealand.