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Sun. Sep 8th, 2024

Israeli Yellow Ribbons, Hostage Crisis and Controversy in Recent News – Israel News

Israeli Yellow Ribbons, Hostage Crisis and Controversy in Recent News – Israel News

In many parts of Israel, there are yellow ribbons tied around street poles. But on Thursday at the president’s residence, at a book release ceremony that included the first English translation of Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog’s interpretation of Jewish constitutional law, an empty yellow folding chair sat in the center of the front row with a sign in Hebrew. and English which states: “We will not rest. We will not be silent until our sons and daughters return home.”

Elsewhere in the room, balanced on an easel, was a framed poster of all the hostages. Those images are displayed permanently. There were more speakers than usual, with all praying for the safe return of the hostages, a speedy recovery for the wounded soldiers, and a safe return home for the soldiers engaged in battle. Among those well-wishers was Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who had only positive things to say about the soldiers, who are constantly risking their lives, but refrained from mentioning the haredi project. Although he is opposed to Haredim – whether they are students or not – serving in the army, he seems to be very concerned about the welfare of the soldiers who serve. From what he said, not only was he familiar with what was going on in the military, but he was also familiar with the top brass.

Where political activism meets technological innovation

High-tech billionaire and controversial political activist Eyal Waldman, whose youngest daughter Danielle was killed at the Nova music festival in October, is a staunch opponent of the prime minister and has been a leading figure in demonstrations calling on the head of government to leave. These two aspects alone have led to Waldman receiving frequent media attention. But a personal controversy arose when the Mellanox co-founder, chairman and CEO was named this year’s Israel Prize laureate in recognition of his entrepreneurial spirit and technological innovation.

EDUCATION MINISTER Yoav Kisch attends a Knesset Education Committee meeting earlier this month. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

However, because of his antagonism to the prime minister, Education Minister Yoav Kisch tried to circumvent tradition and postpone the awarding of the Israel Prize to next year or simply refuse to accept the decision of the adjudication committee. As is often the case with Kisch, he had to withdraw, although the awards ceremony was kept to a minimum. In other words, Waldman got the award, but without the usual fanfare.

Now, Waldman is back in the news for something a little less controversial, but with stunning results. In a recent Globes report, it was stated that Waldman bought several apartments in the Rainbow project in Israel, Canada, on the site of the former Sde Dov airport, for a nicely rounded figure of NIS 50 million. Most people do not earn this amount in a lifetime. According to the report, Waldman purchased an entire floor and plans to combine all the residential units into a single 550 sq. m. apartment.

Bridging academia with diplomacy

At the 28th annual convention of the Moroccan-Israeli Alliance, held this month at the Auditorium of Culture in Tel Aviv (Heichal Hatarbut), attended by 2,700 people, a special mention was given to Dr. Pinchas Haliva, the director general of Ashkelon Academic College. Haliva was recognized for his contribution to public service and society in Israel for establishing the college, his contribution to the heritage of Moroccan Jews, and for strengthening ties with the Jewish community and academia in Morocco.

MIA President Dr. Shimon Ohayon praised Haliva for all the reasons mentioned above, but especially for establishing, building, developing and managing Ashkelon Academic College as a prestigious institution. The citation was also awarded for promoting excellence, including opening master’s programs in fields such as social work and criminology. Haliva also helped promote conferences and events for the heritage of the people of Israel, including Moroccan Jews, Ohayon said. He also noted that Haliva published 15 books on a variety of subjects, including culture, history and Jewish law in Morocco, and contributed greatly to strengthening ties with Moroccan academia and the Jewish community there.

Expressing his appreciation for the honor he received, Haliva pledged to continue working in all areas for which he was recognized.

Other citations were also given to Prof. Alon Chen, president of the Weizmann Institute; Prof. Marcel Machluf from the Technion; actress Ruby Porat Shoval, as well as public and business figures Jacques Amar and Joe Asraf for their contributions to the IDF and especially to combat soldiers.

Back to typical Israeli innovation

A $600,000 GRANT has been awarded by the Leo Foundation to Professor Yossi Buganim’s lab at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in support of groundbreaking research into fibroblast dysfunction in aging skin. The project aims to develop an innovative technology to rejuvenate aging fibroblasts to improve wound healing. In older people, delays in wound healing are partly due to reduced cell division. Decreased fat cells result in thinner skin and greater vulnerability to injury. In addition, aging cells regenerate more slowly. Addressing these age-related impairments is crucial to developing wound care strategies, Buganim says. The Leu Foundation is dedicated to supporting scientific research to improve human health in general and dermatological health in particular.

Leading by a young example

Anyone who has reached the stage of speaking is not too young to have a good idea and share it. Steven Hoffen, who is based in New York, is one of those people.

Not yet a high school graduate, she received the CNN Heroes 2023 Young Wonder Award for founding the nonprofit Growing Peace, for which she has raised $80,000 so far. With this money, he purchased hydroponic systems for growing produce, similar to those used by some Jewish residents of Gush Katif before their eviction in August 2005. Those hydroponically produced vegetables were so good that they received widespread publicity beyond of Israel.

Hoffen hopes that by bringing hydroponic methods to needy populations around the world, he can make a significant contribution to providing healthy and nutritious food to food insecure populations. By learning new farming methods, they will be able to cooperate and help each other, and this will be an important step towards peace.

One of his projects Growing Peace found its way into a pantry in Tel Aviv.

During a visit to Israel, Hoffen saw Arab and Jewish women working together on a hydroponics project to create peace. This convinced him that hydroponics was a means of bringing people together. Hoffen showed the successful spirit of cooperation that exists between these women in his award-winning documentary Growing Peace in the Middle East.

The film and the project are particularly inspirational at a time when hostilities in the Middle East are erupting from all sides.

YU passes

Yeshiva University, which has supported Israel in various ways since the October 7 massacre, sent a contingent of 20 of its students to Israel to support Gazan communities with various projects aimed at restoring and revitalizing agricultural products. They also visited the Nova festival, the place where so many people were killed or injured.

Four such groups are expected to come to Israel during the summer, providing assistance in agriculture, hi-tech and archaeology. Stephanie Strauss, YU’s executive director in Israel, points out that YU is dedicated to strengthening its connection with Israel by taking on numerous projects in Israel and the US.

Under the leadership of YU President Rabbi Ari Berman, who was recently in Israel, there have been several new initiatives to strengthen relations between Israel and the Diaspora. Berman also launched the coalition of 100 university and college presidents to work together to eliminate anti-Semitism and all forms of racism from America’s campuses.

The level of anti-Semitism is so high in some places that YU has been flooded with applications. Just another sign that every cloud has a silver lining. Unless they wanted to improve their Jewish knowledge and practice for academic reasons, few secular Jews would choose to study at YU, despite its excellent academic record and the successful careers in various fields of many of its graduates. But today, secular students are no less eager than religious students to study at YU.

Crowded Lion’s Den

Note to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, who is known to be a stickler for cleanliness. Indeed, certain parts of the capital are much cleaner than before. But others are much worse – and even dangerous. Some of Lion’s campaign posters are still on city buildings proclaiming that he is the man who cares for all the residents of Jerusalem. Untrue. From time to time, people from a department in the municipality would cut down the overgrown vegetation and break the branches of the trees. But there is no coordination between them and whoever is supposed to clean up the mess left on the sidewalk does not do it immediately or in a reasonable space. This means that pedestrians, who cannot cross foliage and branches, have to step out onto the road and put themselves at risk. Sometimes it takes hours or even a day before the leaves and branches are cleared.

But even the sidewalk has become dangerous because there is no one on duty either from the municipality or the police to stop the bicycles, electric scooters, electric strollers and even motorcycles from crossing the sidewalk at an alarming speed, the mothers missing a short time that spin their babies. and elderly people who no longer have the agility to jump aside.

From August 1, all electric vehicles must be registered because there are too many accidents – some of them fatal – to allow the status quo to continue. The situation is likely to worsen as road space will shrink due to the increasing introduction of already overcrowded light rail.

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