Good News

Israeli among Top Game-changers

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Israeli educational executive Shai Reshef was awarded the 12th spot in a poll answered by 3 million readers of popular American news blog site Huffington Post as one of the Ultimate 12 Game Changers. These were defined as people considered by readers to be global innovation leaders who have significantly changed the way we live or view the world.

IDF Training Base Goes Green

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Last year, the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] inaugurated a new officers' training base near Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev. At the same time, a new US $275 million program was announced by the IDF to protect the environment and also fund environmental education at all IDF bases and training areas.

New Jerusalem Skateboard Park

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“Jerusalem will be joining leading cities around the world with a modern and professional skate park that will attract many visitors,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat announced recently. The state-of-the-art skateboard park, to span 0.7 acres [0.3 hectares] at an investment of about US $1.3 million, is to open in the capital by the end of 2011 in Jerusalem's Liberty Bell Park.

US Defends Jewish Connection to Western Wall

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A recent charge by a Palestinian official that there is no Jewish connection to the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, has been repudiated by the Obama administration.

[Palestinian Authority] Deputy Information Minister Al-Mutawakel Taha caused a furor in Israel and around the Jewish world when he endorsed a study that claims that the site, a remnant of the Jewish Temple, is, in fact, historically a Muslim property with no nexus to Judaism.

Bringing Sight to the Blind in Africa

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Israel sends special teams to a variety of places in the world to help out with medical and emergency issues, and two eye doctors from Rambam Health Care Campus had the opportunity to treat correctible vision problems and blindness in the African nation of the Republic of Cameroon, according to the Rambam Web site.

Jerusalem in Top 10 Choices for Tourists

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Travelers from around the world voted for their favorite sightseeing destinations in a poll sponsored by Trip Advisor, a Web site that provides valuable travel information, and Jerusalem came in seventh place! Their Travelers’ Choice 2010 “Top 10 Culture and Sightseeing Destinations in the World” list their choices in this order: Florence, Washington D.C., Rome, Paris, Siem Reap (Cambodia), New York City, Jerusalem, Venice, Istanbul, and London.

Hebrew University Goes Global

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For the first time, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will award academic credits to students who study its courses via the Internet—enabling students from any country in the world to study a Hebrew University program. The first session of students to recently complete an online Hebrew University course in Biblical Hebrew includes 30 students from Lebanon, Singapore, Peru, Argentina, Holland, Ireland, Denmark, France and Italy.

4.2 Billion Barrels of Oil under Gas?

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There may be as much as 4.2 billion barrels of oil in deep [geological] structures beneath the natural gas structures at the Leviathan prospect, according to a statement by the Israeli partners to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. [For more information on Leviathan, see the Good News article in the August-2010 issue of the Dispatch.]

Israel—A Happy Country

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Israel’s Disaster Experts Help South America

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In February, disaster struck Chile, when an 8.8 Richter Scale earthquake hit the country. In June, an Israeli team of six professionals traveled to Santiago to analyze the aftermath of the disaster and hold a five-day workshop to train more than 300 emergency response personnel from Chile and Paraguay in how to deal with mass casualty events.