Israel Active

Two new parody songs to celebrate Chanukah - the Festival of Lights.  Six13’s “Star Wars” and the Maccabeats “Pan Fry”.   And the third video of the JD (Jewish Donut) is full of fun!    Chag Sameach!

A group of 25 global ministers and parliamentarians came to support Israel as part of the annual Israel Allies Foundation Chairman's Conference. They visited the Barkan Industrial Park where 8,000 Arabs and Jews work together, the Psagot Winery, Shiloh, Hebron and of course Jerusalem.

The traditional bronze menorah (Hanukiah) has been set up in the Western Wall (Kotel) Plaza in preparation for the upcoming Chanukah festival. The 2-meter, 1-ton candelabra will be lit at a public ceremony on each day of the festival from the evening of Sun 22 Dec until Mon 30 Dec.

An anti-Israel professor posted on Facebook a call to boycott Trader Joe's for selling Israeli Feta cheese. Thanks to an Israeli who publicized the post, pro-Israeli customers flocked to several of Trader Joe's branches and bought up all the cheese and proceeded to purchase more Israeli products.

Strengthening Jewish identity one page at a time was the theme of the first-ever International Talmud Israeli Competition on December 15 at the Jerusalem Theater. Of the 1000 parent-child teams, 15 made the final including 3 from the US. An Israeli team won with 150 out of 150 points.

The Israel Antiquities Authority has uncovered 2000-year-old vats in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, used by the Romans to produce a fish sauce. Historical sources refer to the production of special fish sauce, but few vats have been discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Thousands of Ethiopian-Israeli Jews traveled from across the country to the Haas Promenade facing the Old City of Jerusalem to celebrate the Sigd holiday. With its roots in the biblical Book of Nehemiah, Sigd rededicates the community’s links to Torah, Jerusalem and Jewish unity.

A previous newsletter article highlighted Israel’s animal sanctuary at Moshav Olesh, which was caring for a 3-legged donkey. Here is website for an Israeli sanctuary that looks after unwanted and abused donkeys. Its mobile clinic also treats hundreds of working donkeys in the PA territories.

In a joint operation, the IDF and Israel's Nature and Parks Authority, extracted a badger, one of Israel’s rarest predators, from the metal border fence between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights. It had been trying to escape from Syria and was released near a water source on the Israeli side.

When Daniel was fired from his job, in a lapse of sanity he tried to take his own life. After going missing for two days he was found unconscious by Eishela from the Israel Dog Unit.  Daniel made a miraculous recovery and was finally able to thank Eishela and her handler.