Israel Active

(Thanks to Haifa Diary) “Israel is my home and where my friends – Arabs & Jews – live. Israel is where I have rights and Israel is where my family lives. I’m proud to be Arab & Israeli.”

19-year-old Arab Christian Lina Mahoul from the northern town of Acre (Akko) won “The Voice Israel” television song contest with a touching version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. The three other finalists were all women and included a religious Jew, and an Ethiopian.

Jews living in Judea and Samaria had surplus bread that they needed to dispose of prior to the Passover holiday. Rather than burn it, they distributed them to needy Palestinian Arabs. It was the 3rd consecutive year that members of the Eretz Shalom movement sent this message of peace to their neighbors.

Due the number of wounded Syrians Israel has been treating, the IDF has set up a "military field hospital" in the Golan Heights. The hospital will treat injured Syrians near the border fence to avoid having to send serious cases on long journeys to hospitals inside Israel.

12-year old Aviva Krainess from Bet Shemesh lost most of her sight 5 years ago but never stopped dreaming of enjoying stories. Together with her father, they started Aviva Productions and Mind Theatre. It’s like a Hollywood movie where you create the pictures in your own mind.

In Jerusalem, President Obama met Sa’id Haruf, one of 600 Arabs working for Intel Israel, who explained the Maantech program to him. Founded by Cisco CEO John Chambers, Maantech is a hi-tech “finishing school” that helps Israeli-Arabs become more integrated into Israel’s hi-tech scene. The US president then publicized Maantech when he gave a press conference in Ramallah.

The Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration for the Gaza Strip hosted twenty-nine farmers from Gaza at the annual Strawberry Fair in Qalansuwa, Israel. The event publicises new varieties of strawberries, new growing methods and approved pesticides.

17 Israeli children (Jews, Arabs and Druze) from the Northern Galilee and Golan Heights are visiting Winnipeg, Canada to play Canadian hockey. The students (aged between 11 and 14) are all members of the Canada Israel Hockey School in Metulla.

Israel Defense Force medics treated four wounded Syrians after they approached the Israel-Syrian border evidently seeking medical attention. Two were seriously wounded and were evacuated to an Israeli hospital for further treatment.

Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the University of Chicago have announced a partnership to collaborate on new water production and purification technologies for deployment in regions of the globe where fresh water resources are scarce.