Israel Active

Residents and visitors to Israel will have noticed the abundance of feral cats. The British brought them in during the mandate both as pets and to get rid of a rat problem. Now a new charity called “Meow Mitzvah Mission of Israel” is working to reduce the number of cats on the streets – humanely, of course.

According to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Jews had no connection to Temple Mount. So why have a Greek inscription barring non-Jews from Temple Mount? And the ancient Hebrew inscription “Lebeit hatekiya” in the corner of the Mount, indicating the site where the shofar was blown?

Shifra Buchris has seven children and finds the time to take care of her family all while serving in Israel’s Border Police. “It is not uncommon that when I go out for nocturnal patrols, I get a phone call from my husband to come breast-feed the baby.”

They are one of the Jewish State’s seven biblical species so it was only right that Israel should host the first International Pomegranate Symposium. Speakers included Dr. Fathi Abd Elhadi, of Israel’s Pomeg-Tech and Ahsen Isik Ozguven, of Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey.

I’ve just heard about Kinetis - a young Tel Aviv-based advocacy organization that aims to promote Israel as a vibrant and inspirational source of creativity and innovation. I suspect that we’ll be hearing quite regularly from Kinetis in this newsletter in the future.

There are some newsletter readers from countries where the media would not broadcast Mr Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC. This is for their benefit. Please listen to his words about Iran.

Some purely divine views of the “holy” land under a snowy landscape. And the level of the Kinneret is still rising. Remarkable weather – and this weekend we are having a heat-wave! https://mobile.twitter.com/!/kinbot

Yecholiya Jin is a Chinese Israeli Jew with roots in Kaifeng, the ancient Jewish community of China. She is leading groups from China around Jerusalem and to other sites of interest in the Jewish State. In 2011, 10,000 Chinese tourists came to Israel.

The true value of the Taglit-Birthright program is more than financial, however its direct benefit itself is immense. Since its inception in 2000, its direct contribution to Israel’s revenue was more than NIS 2 billion. The value of indirect benefits is incalculable.

(Thanks to Israel21c.com) The arts and crafts on sale in Tel Aviv’s Nachlat Binyamin market must be made in Israel. The maker must also be present on the stall to sell them.