Israel Active

The app Digital 101 is one of the technical innovations that has vastly improved survival rates of wounded IDF personnel during the current war. The app, developed by Israel’s K Health (see previously) and two army reservists, transfers medical data about the wounded from battlefield to hospital.

IDF troops in Gaza have rescued many abandoned pet dogs and cats, at least one parrot and three horses. One dog was a purebred Malinois, a.k.a. Belgian sheepdog. It responded to commands in Hebrew, which probably meant it (like many of the rescued animals) was looted on Oct 7.

Argentina’s new President Javier Milei stepped off his plane on arrival in Israel and immediately announced that his country’s embassy would be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He brought his personal Rabbi, visited Yad Vashem, and prayed at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

Soldiers in the IDF’s 188th Brigade were surprised to find stars of David on gravestones in a cemetery in the central Gaza town of Al-Maaziin. They were the graves of British Jewish soldiers who fell in 1917, in World War I, fighting the Ottomans in the Land of Israel.

IDF reservist Erez was hiking in Israel’s Nahal Tabor Nature Reserve during two days’ leave. He found a 2,800-year-old Assyrian scarab amulet at Tel Rekhesh, identified as the city of Anaharath in the book of Joshua. The Assyrians defeated the Kingdom of Israel but failed to conquer the Kingdom of Judea.

Israel has seen 14 straight days of rainfall in the north and south for the first time since February 1992. It is called a “rain of blessing” as the steady, persistent downpour allows rainwater to seep into the ground, enriching natural water sources without the damaging side effects of flooding.

Since Oct. 7, Israeli political analyst and Arabic-speaker Idit Bar has engaged in intensive public diplomacy on BBC Arabic and social media. In the process, she has learned to gain support by emphasising common concerns (e.g., terrorism, Iran, fundamentalism, etc.) in the Arab world.

Nearly 450 students came to the Nefesh B'Nefesh Aliyah Campus in Jerusalem to learn more about what life after their gap year can look like in Israel. With a total of 25 booths and 60 volunteers on hand, students learned about Sherut Leumi, army and higher education options.

IDF Sgt. Major Malchiel ben Yosef saved his comrades from a Hamas terrorist who emerged from a Gaza tunnel behind them with an RPG launcher. Malchiel turned towards Jerusalem to pray the afternoon service and spotted the terrorist. He then alerted his comrades who dealt with the threat.

After 10 weeks in limbo in an Eilat hotel, over 400 Kibbutz Re’im members have moved into two towers in Tel Aviv. A Tel Aviv Municipality banner welcomed relocated Kibbutz Re’im residents with this message: “There is no place like home, but in the meantime, feel at home.”