Israel Active

A delegation from Rwanda’s ICT Chamber has just visited Israel as guests of Israeli venture capital firm Kaenaat & YPO, which has been working with them for the last two years. Israel is helping Rwanda to jump-start its technology ecosystem using education, skills exchange and investment.

Nearly two-thirds of Israel’s Arab population voted in the recent Israeli elections.

The parents of children awaiting heart surgery by surgeons of Israel’s Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) are nervous, because being in Israel at all is a big risk for someone from Syria, Iraq, or Jordan. And every Tuesday children from Gaza, Judea & Samaria arrive for surgery and check-ups.

40 girls from Jericho and Beit Shemesh participated in an event called "New Spring – New Hope," at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel. They visited animals and listened to a lecture in Hebrew and Arabic about the importance of treating animals kindly.

The Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) launched (Baseball Le’Kulam), the first ever program to teach Jewish and Arab Israeli children to play baseball. 28 sixth graders from Modiin and Ramle learned about baseball as they also learned about one another.

Relations between India and Israel have improved so much since India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected. After Israel’s elections, Mr Modi tweeted in Hebrew, “Mazel tov, my friend Bibi @Netanyahu. I remember our meeting in New York last September warmly.”

IsraAID workers discovered that the residents of the tiny islands of Vanuatu love Israel and called the Israelis “a light unto the nations”. IsraAID distributed over 40 tons of rice, flour and drinking water to residents of the Tongoa and Mataso islands that were devastated by Cyclone Pam.

A multi-sector emergency response team from Israel-based IsraAID has arrived on the remote islands of Vanuatu, devastated by Cyclone Pam. After meeting government officials and UN agencies in the capital Port Vila, IsraAID started distributing water and rice and more Israeli aid is coming. (Info from IsraAID’s Shachar Zahavi)

Following the highest turnout (71.8%) since 1999, the next Knesset will contain a record number of women (28) and 17 Arabs. The 23% of female MKs compares to 20% in the US. The turnout amongst was particularly high.

Arab and Jewish girls pose together at the start of the Jerusalem marathon. (Photo credit to Sharon Altshul - ) Also see the varied voters at Israel’s election (TY Hazel)