Israel Active

Sarah Honig writes some great things about Israel in her weekly blog.

Israel’s Quarry Rehabilitation Fund has transformed disused limestone quarries on the Golan Heights and in Karmiel into sites of natural beauty for all citizens to enjoy. The Avital Valley Park will be inaugurated next month. Binyamina and Zichron Yaakov are works in progress.

Exciting new video showing the opportunities given for volunteers to train with Magen David Adom – Israel’s emergency first response service.

“The people are wonderful, the food is outstanding, the views are splendid, the soldiers walk around with big guns and huge smiles and they are much nicer than our civil servants." This was the impression that six Serbian bloggers took back to Belgrade. (Thanks to Uri)

Non-Jewish Zionist writer Julie Burchill chose the Israeli National Anthem as one of her eight records when she appeared on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs. She also chose “Hebrew Man” by Israel’s Ehud Banai and the theme song from the movie “Exodus”.

Congregants at the Or Avner Jewish day school in Chelyabinsk, Siberia heard a huge explosion during morning prayers followed by a bright flash that lit up the sky. Outside, a meteorite fell from space, shattering the stained glass windows of the Chelyabisnk synagogue.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon highlights Jerusalem’s harmony where (for the first time in history, under Israeli sovereignty) Jews, Christians, Muslims, secular, religious, young and old live side by side. He also shows the unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem.

The Southern District Committee for Planning and Building has approved the final leg of the future Eilat railway. The rail link will connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and provide a swifter passage of goods to both Europe and Asia, strengthening international relations, improving tourism to Eilat and significantly reducing air pollution levels.

London’s Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat recently published two articles that presented a different view of Israel. The articles by Dr. Amal al-Hazzani, an assistant professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, attracted a flood of hate mail, however.

While training to be a pilot, Lt. T was told he had cancer - but that didn’t stop him. He beat the disease and chose to rejoin the IAF’s Flight Academy. Now he has graduated the course, despite spending long stretches of it in the hospital.