Israel Active

On Israel’s Independence Day, an East Jerusalem Arab received a citation of excellence from President Shimon Peres. In his community, only his immediate family know that he is a medic in the Israeli army. Last week two of his brothers also joined the IDF.

The performance of Molière’s “The Bourgeois Gentleman” by fifteen Bedouin teenagers was the first time a Bedouin troupe had staged a Western-style play in Israel. The Hura Community Youth Group created a hilarious portrayal, in the jargon of modern Bedouin Arabic.

Israel’s annual green globe awards event recognized environmental excellence in the governmental, business, and civilian sectors. And the Arab Alzahraa school northeast of Tel Aviv was among this year’s nine recipients. The school has an ecological garden and solar power station.

The blogs editor of Israel Hayom has written an excellent article highlighting some of Israel’s contributions to the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Tikvot is a non-profit volunteer-based organization that rehabilitates Israel's victims of terror through sport. Tikvot ("Hopes" in Hebrew) has proved that sport provides our heroes with hope, giving paraplegics and amputees the power to restore self-confidence and dignity.

On the Sunday before Independence Day, residents of 21 Israel cities turned off their lights for one hour to conserve energy. A concert in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square was powered solely by renewable energy sources. Israel’s government recently installed energy-efficient computers in all ministries.

Druze Professor for Hebrew Literature Naim Araidi is Israel's new ambassador to New Zealand. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said after the appointment, "Araidi represents the beautiful face of Israel, in which a talented person, irrespective of religion or sector – can reach the highest places on merit, and be an inspiration for all Israelis".

From an initial 120,000 students, eighteen completed Israel Education Ministry's unique high school project for "super gifted children". They included Israeli-Arab Arij Hatib, from the town of Majdal Krum.

(Thanks to Israel21c) 30-year old Pnina Gaday Agenyahu is the first Ethiopian-born member of Israel's Council for Higher Education. She is also Hillel director at Tel Aviv University. She arrived in Israel aged three, following her family’s trek across Sudan.

Mehmet Burhan Gül was matched with a bone marrow donor from Israel. “Everybody should learn a lesson from this donation, which was made without any discrimination of religion, language or race,” said Gül (same surname as the Turkish President).