NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL THAT YOU ARE UNIKELY TO FIND IN THE MEDIA

 

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL THAT YOU ARE UNIKELY TO FIND IN THE MEDIA

 

·         For the first time in 40 years, a diplomat from Israel has been appointed to serve on the executive board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) effective on 1^st January, 2013.  UNICEF’s mandate is to supply clean drinking water, proper nutrition, education and humanitarian relief to children in disaster zones and other areas where their needs are not being met.  It was established in 1946 by Ludwik Rajchman, a Jewish-Polish pediatrician and Holocaust survivor to assist the children of Holocaust and other disasters.  Through the years, Israel went from being a country which accepted aid from UNICEF to being a country that made major contributions to it.  Today, Israeli humanitarian NGO’s cooperate with UNICEF on projects in several developing countries.

(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

 

·         A 2,750 year-old temple and a cache of sacred vessels from biblical times were recently discovered during an archeological excavation at Motza, near Jerusalem.  The finds include figurines of men and horses, providing rare evidence of a ritual culture in the Jerusalem region at the beginning of the Judean Monarchy, the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah.  The walls of the building are described as massive and a square structure, probably an altar, was exposed in the temple courtyard.

(Israel Antiquities Authority)

Figurines of a person (Photo: Clara Amit, courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority)     ·         Apart from its swimwear, Israel is not particularly well-known for fashion but that might be about to change.  About 30 foreign fashion and lifestyle journalists came to Israel recently for Tel Aviv Fashion Week and they liked what they saw.  Participants included leading opinion- makers from fashion magazines Vogue in Paris and Italy, Marie Claire in Italy, Elle in the United States,  InStyle from Russia and Flair and Glamour in France and Germany.  The senior editor of the Italian Marie Claire said that he was very surprised by the creativity of the Israeli designers and is planning to write a long article for the March issue of Marie Claire focusing on new upcoming designers in Israel. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)   ·         Imad & Reem Younis, a Christian-Arab couple from Nazareth are responsible for producing a range of surgical products trusted by neurosurgeons and neuroscience researchers on six continents.  Their company, Alpha Omega, was named the 2012 American Israeli Company of the year by the American Israeli Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, Georgia. Their products are used in helping to learn more about the workings of the human brain as well as for treating a variety of neural disorders including Parkinsons disease and dystonia and, in Europe, for treating patients suffering from clinical depression. (Abigail klein Leichman  Israel 21C)   ·         The weather is the main topic of conversation in Israel as we write, snow blanketed Jerusalem this morning, completely cutting it off from the rest of Israel, schools were closed and bus services were cancelled but the railway system not only continued to function but extra trains were put on so that families outside Jerusalem could come and share in our snow.  Jerusalem’s children are ecstatic and even though the adults may have been finding the recent heavy rain and snow falls a problem they are doing wonders for the level of the Sea of Galilee which continues to rise and that is the best news that Israel could possibly receive.