Israel Active

In Dec, Israel’s Technion Institute hosted 700 female high school students from all over Israel at its 8th annual TechWomen event. It featured guest speakers, campus tours and other activities to inspire more young women to pursue academic degrees in science and engineering.

An update of the career of Major Ella Waweya (see previously) - the first Muslim Arab woman to publicly become a major in the IDF. The details of how she joined the IDF are especially interesting.

I sent this website link to readers in September when the KKL-JNF cameras at Israel’s Hula Lake were set up.  Now the bird migration through Israel is at its peak, you can use this link to view the amazing live scenes as some 500 million feathered visitors rest their wings in the Jewish State.

It is good news. A flock of 200 flamingos from Iran arrived at Israel’s Hula Lake during their November migration. However, they seem to be happy here and don’t appear to be continuing their journey to Africa. KKL-JNF’s Inbar Shlomit Rubin says, “I just hope they won’t be accused of being spies!”

Arik Rosenblum of Israeli NGO EcoOcean (see previously) promotes the vital message to the whole world that, “To save the sea is to save us”. Plastic waste going into our food via fish is causing cancer. It is also killing vital marine creatures – like the sponge that may be a cure for Alzheimer’.   

Deputy Minister of Science and Education Mukhtar Mammadov has reportedly been appointed as the country’s first ambassador to the Jewish State. He previously supervised projects with Israel. The news of was praised by George Deek, Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan.

In a unique ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented the Turkish Academy of Sciences’ honorary commendation to Hebrew University Professor Amnon Cohen for his extensive research into the Land of Israel under Ottoman rule.

Eight wheelchair-bound teens with cerebral palsy from Herzfeld Special Education School in Holon celebrated their long-awaited induction into the Israel Defense Forces. It concluded two years of intensive training to improve their physical, cognitive, and social skills.

Last week Israel’s Innovation Authority allocated NIS 17.6 million to train 2,500+ new immigrants and ex-pats in hi-tech (see ). Now a further NIS 21.6 million will fund 12 programs to train and place 2,200+ Israeli Arab men and women in hi-tech over the next two years.

A wolf with rare white fur was photographed roaming the Negev region. Making it still rarer is that it’s not an albino. The rare breed has been seen before in Israel, including in 2012 in Evrona, a nature reserve near Eilat, and in 2015 in Mishor Yemin, a nature park in the northern Negev.