Israel Active

This Israeli video from the Together Project, features deaf and hearing-impaired people of different races and religions dancing and signing in unison to Me’ir Banai’s “Shafshaf’s song”.

Senior Investment Officer at the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, Ruzgar Barisik said, “Israel is a very exciting place for us: market interest in a growing number of Israeli technologies makes this a very promising area we want to be part of.”

On the 60th anniversary celebration of the Israeli Foundation for Handicapped Children, please read how Israel gives hope to less fortunate members of society. Note its work with Down’s syndrome, spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s sufferers and the victims of Chernobyl.

The Indian government has invited leading Israeli water technology companies to take part in efforts to clean India’s most important river. A delegation of Indian research institutes, water technology companies and other relevant agencies will come to Israel to learn about the Israeli water and sewage purification technologies.

In semi-arid Eastern Sri Lanka, Singhalese, Tamil and Muslim populations struggle over meagre water resources. The head of Sarvodaya, the largest NGO in Sri Lanka, has come to Israel to learn about Friends of the Earth’s cross-border Good Water Neighbours project and Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Mashav program.

The United Nations has granted Israeli advertising company Baumann Ber Rivnay a gold medal for its campaign, Blood Relations. The campaign brought bereaved Israelis and Palestinians together for a blood drive. Blood donated from Israelis went to Palestinian patients and vice versa.

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.