Israel Active

Over 70 young Israeli entrepreneurs impressed United Nations representatives at the Israeli Designed International Development (ID2) conference in Caesarea. Innovations demonstrated included plants that give off light at night and MobileOCT’s cervical cancer diagnosis system.

Relations between Israel and Cyprus are at an unprecedented level, said Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulines during his recent visit. There is good cooperation on security, energy, water management, science and technology.

Three wounded Syrians including a 14-year-old boy were taken to Israeli hospitals for treatment last week. Poriya Medical Center in Tiberias, has now treated 46 Syrians. Doctors at Rambam hospital in Haifa removed part of the skull of a six-year-old Syrian boy who arrived in a coma. He was injured in an explosion that killed his mother and siblings. After six weeks he was discharged to his grateful father.

In contrast to what you may have read elsewhere, most ordinary Jerusalemites get along quite well together.

Tel Aviv start-up Gangly Sister is producing a cartoon web series to promote Science, Tech, Engineering and Math to girls. The English-language series, titled, “Purple and Nine,” has had 64,000 views since its debut on Jan 30. The plan is to release one new 5-minute episode every month.

Israel’s Education Ministry has launched a national program to encourage pre-school children in Arab communities to read. Maktabat al-Fanoos (“Lantern Library”) will deliver 4 free books to over 45,000 children in 1,750 kindergartens to bring home and read with their families.

A team of Israel scientists arrived in Bhubaneswar, Hubaneswar, India, to test a pilot program to use plants to remove pollutants from contaminated soil and water. The holistic wastewater management process is called “phyto-remediation”. (See Algemeiner article for more info on India)

Israel and Germany are launching a joint project for humanitarian relief in developing countries, specifically in Africa. “The Africa initiative" will see Israel pledge 24 million shekel ($6.8 million) toward humanitarian relief in developing countries from 2015-2020.

President Ollanta Humala of Peru arrived in Israel for a three-day visit designed to increase economic and security cooperation between the two countries. Humala was set to meet representatives of Israeli high-tech firms, and receive an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University.

Leket Israel, the National Food Bank, hosted the founders of Bouroume (“We Can”), a virtual food bank in Athens for a two-day visit. The Greek charity saw Leket’s gleaning program in which 50,000 volunteers pick, rescue and distribute fresh produce to the needy.