Israel Active

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.

Unusually positive article by Tom Friedman about the on-line nano-technology course run by Israel Technion’s Israeli-Arab Professor Hossam Haick. Some ask him, “Are you a real person? Are you really an Arab, or are you an Israeli Jew speaking Arabic, pretending to be an Arab?”

700 Israeli-Arab volunteers gathered in Karmiel for a celebratory, upbeat and heartwarming event to show them appreciation. Congratulations and affection was showered upon the plucky volunteers who resist blatant bullying in order to perform civic service inside their communities.

(Thanks to Michael and Joy) The PA leadership may not like it, but the religious Jews of Beitar Illit have been shopping in and receiving services from the Palestinian Arab town of Husan for years. And both communities are very happy about it.

18-year-old Yitzhak Rabin Namsy was born in Jordan and named after the ex-Israeli Prime Minister. His parents fled to Israel in 1998. Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar personally presented Yitzhak with his Israeli ID card so that Yizhak could fulfill his wish to serve in the IDF.

Doctors at Haifa’s Rambam hospital delivered twins to a Gaza woman with a severe blood clot disorder. They then delivered a baby to a second Gaza mother in a critical condition due to Rh incompatibility, and then fixed the baby’s congenital heart condition.

Every year, thousands of minority recruits join the Israel Defense Forces. Immigrants have brought their unique culture and traditions from their countries of origin. The IDF also contains hundreds of Bedouin, Circassians, Druze, Arab Christians and Arab Muslims who want to serve their country.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen is determined to overhaul his economy, and cites Israel's success as a "start-up" nation brimming with high-tech innovation as his model. Meanwhile, Finland has been purchasing millions of Euros of Israeli 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.

Israel was awarded observer status to the United Nation’s Pacific Alliance group. As an observer state, Israel will be invited to take part in the staff work of the Pacific alliance and attend its conferences, which will facilitate the advancement of cooperation with its member states.