Israel Active

Israeli food rescue startup SpareEat (see previously) shut down when Covid-19 regulations prevented people from collecting food in person. It has now re-launched and is even more popular than the first time around. Israelis collect “surprise” bags of highly discounted excess food from businesses.

Some 6,000 Tel Aviv University students are serving in the IDF reserves. At least 1000 more are volunteering to help patients at hospitals; make food for serving soldiers, harvest fields and transport people to the Gaza border; help run factories at evacuated kibbutzim, and more.

I was surprised to see this on the BBC. Praise for a woman (Yael Noy) whose heads the organization “Road to Recovery” group of Israeli volunteers. Despite Oct 7, Yael drives sick Palestinian Arabs - mostly children - from security checkpoints in Judea and Samaria to hospital appointments in Israel.

Lee, an occupational therapist at Israel’s Rambam Health Care Campus has been serving as a casualty officer since she was called up for reserves at the beginning of the war. She volunteered as a bone-marrow donor and was a lifesaving match for a woman in need.

Female participation in the IDF is at record levels. They include combat positions, battle intelligence, artillery, rescue units, border police and patrols. In addition, two women passed the initial vetting process for the elite air force Search and Rescue Unit 669. (Hamas see it as a disgrace to be killed by a woman).

Israel and Taiwan have much in common. So it was good to see Taiwanese officials come to Israel in a show of solidarity and to help Israeli farmers in the field.

75 Evangelical and other Christians from 10 nations came to Israel on a “hope, healing, service” tour to support border communities impacted by the Oct 7 Hamas atrocities. The tour was led by the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries (FIRM) which has set up a $10 million+ crisis fund.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has discovered 9 new species of pseudoscorpions (miniature scorpions) in Israel. Like the 52 previously discovered species, they are harmless to humans, being so small. Israel is diverse in animals, being at the junction of three continents.

The positive results of the international PISA test assessing literacy levels of 15-year-old students highlighted that haredi female students lead in Israel in mathematics and reading achievements. In addition, the gaps between Israeli Hebrew and Arabic speakers have narrowed.

14 Israeli university teams have won prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants. 6 went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (total NIS 47 million) and 4 to the Weizmann Institute.  Only some 300 grants were awarded of 2,000+ applications.