Israel Active

American singer and influencer Montana Tucker attended the ‘NOVA’ dance tribute at Kibbutz Re’im in memory of the Oct 7 victims. She said, “Israel will dance again.” And in Tel Aviv’s hostage square, “I’ve sung Hatikvah many times but never in Israel. It is so special and powerful to be singing it here.”

The Jewish Agency for Israel organized a group of 90 IDF soldiers that fought on the southern and northern fronts to participate in Israel’s Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron) and Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut) ceremonies across the globe so they could share details of their experiences.

Shoshana Ovitz 104-year-old Holocaust survivor celebrated her birthday last week by gathering over 400 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Celebrating 76 Years. An inspiring video, released to celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut - Israel’s Independence Day.

A rare photograph of Prime Minister Netanyahu wearing tefillin (phylacteries) was posted on Instagram. The PM promised the mother of Moshiko Dvino, who fell in battle in 2014, that he would put on Moshiko’s tefillin. The smell of gunpowder remains on the tefillin case.

In 2020, Israel’s Dr. Tamara Kolitz founded the non-profit LeMa’anam (“for their sake” in Hebrew), to provide timely healthcare free of charge to Holocaust survivors. Now, 1,500 physicians volunteer in their private clinics, patients’ homes, or LeMa’anam’s two mobile clinics.

Israel’s Valoo has launched a fund assembled to provide support for the child survivors of Oct 7. Operating with the social fund Tmura (see previously), it will regularly distribute cash to these children over the next 10 years. The fund has already raised some $20 million in stock donations.

On Oct 7, 60 of the 80 Israeli-based employees at Israel’s Exodigo (see previously) were drafted into the IDF reserves. The remaining Israeli office and overseas staff managed to close new deals but persuaded those customers to wait a while for implementation.

The attacks on Oct 7 took a severe toll on the SouthUp business incubator (see previously). But now the Nir Am center has fully reopened. Four new startups have joined the portfolio of 27 companies working in the fields of agritech, food tech, medical tech, clean tech, and IoT.

Researchers at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have achieved a breakthrough in advanced radiocarbon dating techniques. It has enabled an “absolute chronology” of Jerusalem in the Iron Age, the time of the Kingdom of Judah and the First Temple. It confirms Biblical accounts of the city’s expansion.