Dispatch from Jerusalem

Preparing for Electric Cars

{image_1}Every new building to be built in the northern city of Haifa must include the infrastructure to set up charging stations for electric cars, according to a memorandum of understanding compiled by the city’s municipality. The document was signed by Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav and Better Place Israel CEO Moshe Kaplinsky.

Shavuot a harvest celebration

{image_1} Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks and Pentecost, occurs on the sixth of the Hebrew month of Sivan in Israel. In ancient times, it was one of the three pilgrim festivals which required a visit to the Temple, along with Pesach (Passover) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Today, the holiday commemorates the giving of the Torah (Gen.–Deut.) at Mount Sinai where the covenant relationship between God and His people was formalized. It is marked primarily by services in synagogues beautifully decorated with flowers and greenery and by the eating of dairy foods.

Israel’s New Government

{image_1} Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu formed the largest cabinet in Israel’s history on March 31 as he managed to put together a unity government that included all the major parties except Kadima, which heads the opposition. Here’s a look at the key parties in the government and the number of seats they hold. The coalition holds 74 seats of the 120 in the Knesset (parliament).

Trees Send a Text Message “I’m thirsty!”

{image_1}It sounds like a fantasy, but Israeli scientists have developed a new device that taps into the stem of a tree, and when water levels are low, the tree can text a message, e-mail the farmer, or turn on the irrigation tap to water itself.

Israel’s Unemployment on the Rise

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Approximately
20,072 people applied to the Israeli Employment Service
(IES) in March, according to the bureau’s data. February saw
17,830 people apply to the IES, and March of 2008 registered 11,856
applicants. According to the IES, March’s figures set an
all-time high: “The number of people laid off in March
topped,” IES Director-General Yossi Farhi told Ynet. The
bureau’s data also indicated a steady increase in the number
of monthly applicants since the end of 2008, noting that 17,499 people
applied to the IES in December, as opposed to 16,450 in November and
10,688 in October.

Russians Purchase Israeli Drones

{image_1}Russia’s
purchase of Israeli
drone aircraft is not only the
first sale of military equipment to Russia from the Jewish state, but
is the first acquisition of foreign military technology by the Russians
since 1940

Drought Danger Not Over

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After
facing a terrifying drought
that threatened serious consequences
to the nation’s water supply and the Sea of Galilee, late
rains came down in what felt like miraculous fashion. The Israeli North
received almost normal rain levels by April. With the bulk of the rainy
season finished in early April, Israel Meteorological Society (IMS)
rain observation posts around the Galilee—a key location for
Israel’s water supply—were registering 79% to 95%
of normal rain levels for the rain year.

Police Dismantle Bomb

{image_1}A
private vehicle wired with
explosives and parked outside the Lev
HaMifratz shopping mall in Haifa was neutralized by security forces on
the evening of March 21, preventing a potentially deadly attack. The
bombs were found after a partial explosion occurred, alerting local
security. Sappers alerted to the scene worked for a lengthy period of
time to dismantle the remaining explosives, which were concealed in a
bag. According to the police, the largest of the explosive devices
detonated partially, leaving the rest of it intact. A number of smaller
charges spread around it also did not explode. Officers later said that
current estimates put the weight of the explosives involved at nearly
100 pounds [45 kilograms].

The Right Thing To Do

{image_1}Our Jewish speaker spent over an hour explaining the efforts of his team to bridge the gaps between disparate groups living in Israel: Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, and Ashkenazi and Sephardi (Jews from European background or from Middle Eastern background). I found his talk fascinating because just like him, Bridges for Peace is working to bring reconciliation. During the question-and-answer time, I asked for his opinion on how we could improve our efforts to build relationships between Christians and Jews.

His response was simple, but profound: “You know the right thing to do.”

The United Nations “Tower of Babble”

On September 8, 2001, Durban I voted to label Zionism as racism. The United States and Israel walked out. Those nations who had their delegates remain, in one way or another, gave their approval to declaring Israel the only racist nation on earth. That such an indictment was possible under the covering of a United Nations sanctioned event makes the organizing body appear to be out of touch, biased, and manipulated—out of touch with the reality in the world today and biased towards the single goal of stigmatizing the name and reputation of Israel.