Israel Active

A US delegation of university presidents and chancellors has arrived in Israel for a conference exploring opportunities for academic and research collaboration with Israeli institutions. The delegation is learning about the state-of-the art research initiatives in the "Start-Up Nation."

CNN has named Yosef Abramowitz, president and co-founder of the firm responsible for Israel’s first solar field, as one of six global “Green Pioneers.” The program highlighted the significant environmental achievements of “men and women with big ideas to change the world.”

Eight disabled IDF veterans will receive new, top of the line artificial knees, enabling them, for the first time in years, to run, jog and ride a bicycle. The imported Genium bionic knees cost $85,000 each.

(Thanks to NoCamels) As part of a class science project, students at Ha’kfar Hayarok High School in Central Israel gathered a few dozen seeds of the rare plant Rumex Rothschildianus, sprouted them in their lab and produced 100,000 new seeds. The seeds were given to the Israel Nature and National Parks Service, which is now planning to plant them in its parks.

The Israeli Cabinet decided on Sunday to speed up the immigration of Ethiopia’s remaining 2,200 Jews. The government’s aim is to have all remaining members of the country’s Jewish community arrive in Israel by March 2014.

A delegation of cadets from the United States Military Academy at West Point attended a week’s training seminar at the IDF's Tactical Command College. They toured the country and learned about the Israeli soldiers' expertise in counter-terrorism.

An archaeological dig in the lower Galilee near Kibbutz Hokuk has found a mosaic floor describing the story of biblical Samson and a Hebrew inscription from an approximately 1,600-year-old synagogue. The synagogue is probably that of ancient Horkuk, mentioned in the Talmud.

At Cleantech 2012 the JNF demonstrated that it has enriched Israel’s economy by 260 million cubic meters of water. This water is collected drop by drop from floods in the Negev and Galilee and from sewage treatment facilities across the country.

A new film about Yoni Netanyahu has been released. The commander of the Entebbe operation was an incredible individual and a role model for young people in today’s world.

Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi is the 9th hottest place on the planet, according to Washington Post’s Foreign Policy magazine. But that has not stopped it from also being Israel’s largest producer of dates. Kibbutzniks have cultivated 18,000 palm trees in temperatures reaching over 50 degrees centigrade.