Israel Active

Around 40,000 students have signed up for the 9-week on-line course “Synapses, Neurons and Brains” run by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Participants come from Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Morocco and Algeria as well as the USA, Europe etc.

Israel has opened a new industrial park in Nazareth to promote economic cooperation between the region’s diverse Jewish, Christian and Muslim citizens. It is modeled on nearby Tefen Industrial Park, designed to bring together industrial, educational and cultural facilities all in one space to foster innovation, growth and peace.

(Thanks to Stuart Palmer) Dozens of Haifa University’s 800 overseas students from 40 countries wanted to let the world know that they share desires and ambitions with local Israelis.

A Muslim Bedouin girl, several Druse, a Pole and 26 Israeli Jews make up the latest group of Haifa University students training to represent Israel as unofficial ambassadors in the international aren. Muslim Ayat Rahal says “I want to show a true picture of Israel. It’s not all protests.”

I’m taking this article at face value, but I’m very surprised. At any one time, close to 20,000 students at nine of the 14 Egyptian universities study Hebrew. Each year, at least 2,000 Egyptian students graduate with bachelor's degrees that include the study of Hebrew.

Daniel Avraham has made history at Yale University after having been elected as the first Israeli to serve as the institution’s student union president. The 24-year-old Jerusalem native is a graduate of Herzliyah’s Gymnasia high school and a former intelligence officer in the IDF.

Siblings Ahmad and Hadil Hamdan from Gaza both suffer from chronic kidney disease. For a few days each month, they receive dialysis treatment at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. "Before I came here, I couldn't breathe or walk. My situation was really bad," said Hadil. In 2012, Rambam Medical Center alone treated nearly 400 children from Gaza.

57-year-old cardiologist Dr. Aziz Darawshe is the new director of the emergency department at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, and chairman of the Israel Society for Urgent Medicine. Dr Darawshe lives in the Arab village of Iksal, near Nazareth.

Transportation of Turkish exports has been severely hampered by the Syrian crisis and riots in Egypt’s Port Said. So the Israeli government is allowing Turkish trucks to enter Israel from Haifa and then travel over the ElKhalil Bridge to Jordan. About 100 trucks a week use this route.

Here is an update and new video about Israel’s charity that receives donated shares from start-ups and sells them when the start-up is successful. When CISCO bought Intucell, Tmura gained $400,000, which goes to support educational initiatives and youth opportunities. These include AMICHAI (integrates mentally disabled), Krembo Wings (special needs children) and Eliya (programs for blind and visually impaired children and their families).