Israeli Musicians with Disabilities to Represent Israel on World Tour

By Jpost.com Staff - October 26, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post

The band that inspired thousands of people around the globe with their viral video clip is embarking on a world tour, to perform in cities across three continents. 

The Shalva Band is composed of eight adults with disabilities; including Down syndrome, Autism, and various physical handicaps; whose talent and moving performances have merited awards and international recognition. The band will be traveling to New York, Tornoto, Mexico, and London, among other cities to represent Israel and people with disabilities at tens of dignitary and cultural events.

"When the band was established over ten years ago, it was merely an expansion of Shalva's music therapy program," explained Shai Ben-Shushan, the Shalva Band director. "Today the Shalva band has become an international icon for inclusion and a real example of the amazing things that can happen when you empower people's abilities and believe in their potential. This is a message that everyone can relate to, whether or not they have disabilities." Read More

Christians from 100 nations celebrate Sukkot in Israel

(Photo: Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 15, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

More than 5,000 evangelical Christians from nearly 100 nations celebrated in Israel during the recent week-long Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday.

The annual pilgrimage, organized by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, is highlighted by a colorful march through Jerusalem, held this year on October 10 under sunny skies.

Following in the footsteps of Jesus, whose Sukkot holiday visit to the capital city is described in the Gospel of John, the visitors marked 50 years of Jerusalem’s reunification.

“The Feast of Tabernacles is always a wonderful foretaste of that future time when all peoples will come up to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot,” according to an ICEJ statement. Read More

Israeli Arabs’ Growing Israeli Identity

(Photo: © ABIR SULTAN/epa/Corbis)

By Evelyn Gordon - October 17, 2017

Originally appeared here in CommentaryMagazine.com

Over last week’s Sukkot holiday, Israeli Arab couple Khalil and Reem Bakly launched their own personal coexistence venture by building a completely kosher sukkah (aided by an Orthodox Jewish employee of Khalil’s dental practice) and inviting any and all Israeli Jews to come visit. That same week, a delegation comprised entirely of Israeli Arabs—Muslims, Christians, and Druze—made final preparations for a speaking tour defending Israel on American college campuses.

Both could easily be dismissed as unrepresentative of Israel’s Arab community. After all, that very same week, Arab Knesset member Haneen Zoabi asserted in a speech in Dallas that Jews have no right to self-determination, because “the Jews are not a nationality.” And Zoabi, who is only slightly more inflammatory than her party colleagues, was elected on a joint ticket that receives the overwhelming majority of Israeli Arab votes.

But as a recent poll of Israeli Arabs proves, the community is changing—and not in Zoabi’s favor.

Perhaps most striking was the fact that a decisive majority of respondents identified primarily as Israeli rather than Palestinian, which is something that wasn’t true even a few years ago. In 2012, for instance, just 32.5 percent of Israeli Arabs defined themselves as “Israeli” rather than Palestinian. But the figure has risen fairly steadily, and this year, asked “which term best describes you,” 54 percent of respondents chose some variant of “Israeli” (the most popular choice was “Israeli Arab,” followed by “Arab citizen of Israel,” “Israeli,” and “Israeli Muslim”). That’s more than double the 24 percent who chose some variant of “Palestinian” (15 percent chose simply “Palestinian.” The others chose “Palestinian in Israel,” “Palestinian citizen in Israel,” or “Israeli Palestinian”). Read More

Massive section of Western Wall and Roman theater uncovered after 1,700 years

(Photo: Yaniv Berman, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan - October 16, 2017 

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Archaeologists are one step closer to solving the riddle of what took place in Jerusalem following the destruction of the city by Romans in 70 CE.

Israel Antiquity Authority archaeologists announced Monday that for the past two years they have been excavating and exposing a massive eight-meter deep section of Jerusalem’s Western Wall, unseen for 1,700 years.

And in the course of their work, which has been quietly proceeding directly beneath Wilson’s Arch — the area immediately adjacent to the men’s section of the Western Wall — they unexpectedly discovered a small Roman theater. The dig has not encroached under the Temple Mount. Read More

Dozens of Palestinians visit settlement mayor’s sukkah in reconciliation event

(Photo: Yesha Council)

By TOI Staff - October 11, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Times of Israel 

A year after a similar event landed four Palestinians in a Palestinian Authority jail, over 30 Palestinians joined dozens of Israelis as guests at the sukkah of Efrat mayor and settlements advocate Oded Revivi.

The group of some 100 guests gathered “to celebrate coexistence,” according to a press release.

The Palestinian participants were not identified in order to protect them from any backlash by PA authorities, but they were described in the release as “local Palestinian leaders from half a dozen local cities and towns.”

It is a Jewish tradition to host friends and associates in the temporary structure that are used during Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) to recall the biblical account of the booths erected in the desert by the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt. Read More

Israeli-Arab couple welcomes all in Sukkah of Hope

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 12, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Dentists Khalil and Reem Bakly, a young Arab-Israeli couple in Upper Nazareth, built a 9-by-3-meter sukkah on their deck and invited the general public to come for kosher and Arab cuisine, prayer, live music and discussions on the three intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday, October 8-10.

Calling their unusual construction the Sukkah of Hope, the Baklys issued an invitation in Arabic and Hebrew. “We believe that respect is mutual, that listening and understanding are the basis for a shared existence,” they wrote.

Why would a Muslim couple build a sukkah, a temporary outdoor booth, in keeping with the biblical commandment to celebrate the week-long Jewish Feast of Tabernacles?

Dr. Khalil Bakly, 45, says most of the patients and professional staff in both his Netanya and Nazareth offices are Jewish, and he had long admired the concept of Sukkot.

“Towards the Sukkot holiday we are used to masses of Israeli people celebrating this feast by building a sukkah,” he explains. “The sukkah comes to symbolize that materialism is not a principal issue, and therefore we are not measured by the strength of the walls in our houses, but rather by the strength of our hearts.” Read More

Not even hurricanes can keep Puerto Rican pilgrims from dancing in Israel

(Photo: Hycliff Soler)

By Grace Austin - October 10, 2017

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Hycliff Soler emerged from his home after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico on September 20 to find a country he didn’t recognize.

“When the hurricane ended, we went outside and started to see the whole devastation,” said Soler. Whole neighborhoods were flooded, buildings were reduced to rubble. Trees blocked the roadways, and the island’s fragile electrical infrastructure collapsed.

“Then we said, ‘I think we will not be able to make the Israel trip.’”

Hycliff Soler and his wife Lunail Colón have run a Christian-centered dance school, Danzàle, in a suburb of the capital San Juan for the past 15 years. Their kids, Ian Cliff, 17, and Soleil, 12, are also dancers.

The family planned to visit Israel to perform with other musicians, dancers and singers from the Philippines, Brazil, the United States, Fiji, and elsewhere for the Feast of the Tabernacles, which began last Friday in Ein Gedi and ends on Wednesday in Jerusalem. Read More

Israeli hospital gets grant to treat Syrian kids’ hearing loss

(Photo: Genesis Prize Foundation)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 4, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

A six-figure donation from Israeli philanthropist Morris Kahn is going to Ziv Medical Center in Safed (Tzfat) to fund treatment of hearing loss among Syrian children brought from conflict areas to Israel for medical care.

The hospital near the border with Syria, recently visited by celebrity Conan O’Brien, has extensive experience treating wounded Syrian civilians.

Exams performed at Ziv have revealed that one out of every three Syrian children from combat zones suffers hearing loss. The grant will cover direct expenses related to clinical treatments, surgery and rehabilitation as well as state-of-the-art hearing devices for an estimated 50 children. Read More

Video of Holocaust survivor forgiving Mengele goes viral

(Photo: Public domain)

By David Sedley - October 1, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Times of Israel 

A video of a Holocaust survivor, in which she forgives the notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele for carrying out medical experiments on her and her twin sister at Auschwitz, has gone viral in recent weeks, garnering more than 120 million views.

Last month Eva Mozes Kor, 83, made a video entitled, “The Power to Live and Forgive,” produced by Buzzfeed, in which she describes her journey from a naked 10-year-old being experimented on by the ‘Angel of Death,’ to forgiving him.

Kor’s story of the strength she gained from granting forgiveness has been watched over 120 million times on Facebook since it was posted on September 27 and more than 3 million times on YouTube, where it was posted on September 15. Read More

Israel Saves Kurdish Children With Heart Disease Despite Erdogan Criticism

(Photo: Regional Cooperation Ministry) 

By Judy Siegel-itzkovich - October 2, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Jerusalem Post

Following the criticism by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over Israel’s support for the Kurds, Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi visited Kurdish children who were receiving medical treatment here on Monday.

During a visit to Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center, the base for the Save a Child’s Heart program that performs congenital heart surgery on needy children from abroad, Hanegbi said: “Israel is the greatest defender of human rights.”

The minister was accompanied by ministry director-general Dr. Joseph Dreznin. After being greeted by Wolfson doctors, Hanegbi and Dreznin toured the pediatric wards and met with children from Afghanistan, Togo, Zanzibar and the Palestinian Authority as well as from Kurdistan in Iraq. Read More

Jews and Palestinians work side-by-side to rebuild home hit by Hurricane Harvey

(Photo: Lewis)

By Cathryn J. Prince - September 27, 2017

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

NEW YORK — Of all the homes in all the flood ravaged neighborhoods in Houston, the group of Jewish volunteers from New Jersey walked into the Khourys’.

“The first thing I heard when we arrived was the accent of the mother. She hugged the rabbi who was wearing his black yarmulke and tzitzit. ‘We’re Palestinian. You’re Jewish. This is the best country in the world! This is America!,’” said Scott Wisotsky, describing the moment he and his fellow good Samaritans arrived at Victor and Mary Khoury’s home.

Wisotsky had traveled to Houston with the New Jersey chapter of Mesorah, a network for young Jewish professionals. The chapter’s director, Rabbi Yehoshua Lewis, led the group of 11 volunteers to help with flood recovery in homes destroyed by Hurricane Harvey.

Now back in New York, Wisotsky said the team is still amazed that of all the homes they could have been placed in — the August 25 hurricane damaged over 100,000 houses in the city — they ended up helping Palestinian Americans. For many of the Jewish volunteers it was the first time they ever stepped foot inside a Palestinian family’s home. Read More

Israel Approves ‘Gospel Trail’ Cable Car to Enhance Christian Tourism

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

By JNS.org - September 4, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Algemeiner

Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved the construction of the “Gospel Trail” cable car that, when completed, will run between Upper Nazareth and the lower slopes of Mount Tabor in order to enhance access to Christian tourist sites in the area.

The project in Israel’s northern region is a collaborative effort between Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri and the municipality of Upper Nazareth.

The initiative aims to attract millions of international tourists and religious pilgrims, in addition to Israeli visitors. Read More

Israel sends aid to Mexico after devastating earthquake

(Photo: ZAKA)

By Nicky Blackburn - September 20, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

The Israel Defense Forces Search and Rescue Unit and two other Israeli aid agencies have sent emergency response teams to Mexico in the wake of a deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 200, flattened buildings, and extensively damaged infrastructure.

The earthquake, which struck 140 kilometers south-east of Mexico City, caused substantial damage. It comes just two weeks after a deadly earthquake hit the country, and is the most powerful to strike Mexico since 1985.

Israel received a request for assistance from Mexico following the severe earthquake on Tuesday night, and in response a 50 member team of the IDF Search and Rescue Unit departed earlier this afternoon with a planeload of equipment.

Israeli nonprofit aid organization IsraAID will also send an emergency response team to Mexico, with psycho-social, water, sanitation and hygiene specialists. Read More

African Christian leaders hold Jerusalem start-up summit

(photo: Ilanit Chernick )

By Ilanit Chernick - August 30, 2017 

Originally appeared here in the Jerusalem Post

Christian leaders from several African countries concluded meetings in Jerusalem on Wednesday with Israeli start-ups, politicians and businesses during the African Leadership Summit hosted by the Institute for Christian Leadership Development.

“Africa Celebrates Jerusalem” is this year’s theme for the summit, which aims to strengthen ties between Israel and Africa.

The main goal is for African Christian leaders to connect with the different sectors of the country including agriculture, economic and technology.

About 70 delegates from countries including Nigeria, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Tanzania and Kenya took part in the four-day event. Read More

Ancient Clay Seals Shed Light on Israel's First Temple Period

(Photo: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)

September 5, 2017 - Originally appeared here on CBN.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – Dozens of ancient seals dating to the First Temple period will be on display to the public for the first time this week at the annual archaeological conference at the City of David National Park in Jerusalem.

The well-preserved clay seals, used by the sender to officially close up letters, survived the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple in 586 BC.

The seals, known in Hebrew as bullae, from which the word "bul" (stamp) comes, showed the recipient if the letter had been opened. A broken seal indicated it had been opened before arriving at its destination. Read More

Kurds Wave Israeli Flag in Solidarity with Jewish State at Independence Rally in Germany

(Photo: Enver Akkaya)

By TheTower.org Staff - AUGUST 28, 2017

Originally appeared here in TheTower.org

At a rally in the German city of Cologne on Saturday, attended by some 20,000 Kurds from different parts of the world expressing support for an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq, the Israeli flag was raised in solidarity with the Jewish state.

Kurdish people from Greater Kurdistan that includes all four parts of the Kurdish homeland divided among four Middle Eastern countries—Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey—gathered at the rally, many waving the flag of Iraqi Kurdistan alongside the flags of Israel, the United States, and Germany.

One of the flags read “Thank you for your support,” referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment earlier this month when he expressed a “positive attitude” toward a Kurdish state. The Prime Minister told a delegation of US Congressmen that the Kurds are “brave, pro-Western people who share our values.”

Jahwar Slemani from Iraqi Kurdistan told The Israel Project that he brought an Israeli flag to the rally to express his solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people. “Kurds and Jews, we have the same enemies,” he said. “Jews know what it takes to survive as a minority in the Middle East. We have to stick together.” Read More

Israel sends aid to flood-battered Texas

(Photo: Shutterstock.com)

By Nicky Blackburn - August 29, 2017

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Two teams of Israeli aid experts are on their way to Texas to provide vital relief and psychosocial support to the thousands of people who have lost everything in the catastrophic Tropical Storm Harvey.

The storm, which first hit Texas on Sunday and continues to plague the beleaguered state with pounding rain, has left nine dead, and tens of thousands of people homeless as flood waters have poured through city streets in Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States. The storm is thought to have affected 6.8 million people in 18 countries, a quarter of the Texas population.

Humanitarian aid organization IsraAID aims to provide a two-stage response to the disaster, focusing on helping remove debris and clean homes in the wake of the catastrophic flooding, and offering psychosocial trauma support to shocked residents. Read More

Jerusalem backgammon contest rolls winning dice for Jewish-Arab coexistence

By David Horovitz - August 25, 2017

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

In the end, it all came down to one throw of the dice. If Itzik Yakobovitch, he of the snazzy white hat and the implausibly youthful dance moves, could manage double 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, he would be crowned Jerusalem’s first-ever backgammon champion. If not, the title would go to the gleaming scalped, Chelsea soccer shirt-wearing Gadi Carmeli.

The prize was a nifty NIS 25,000 (almost $7,000). But though that was no trifling sum for the two finalists, this tournament was emphatically not about the money. It was, rather, almost certainly the most remarkable exercise in bringing people together from wildly different worlds ever to be held in the shadow of Jerusalem’s Old City walls… involving dice.

For much of the past year, at a range of venues across this strained mosaic of a city, about 500 Jews, Christians, Muslims and who knows who else have been playing in qualifying tournaments — in the garages of Talpiot, in the YMCA, all over the Old City, in Jewish and Arab neighborhoods — bidding to secure a place in Thursday night’s final event. Read More

Israel to Host Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem in Mid-October

(Photo: Markus Bollen – Michael Hammers Studios Gmbh.)

By JNS - August 24, 2017

Originally appeared here in The Algemeiner

Around 70 Christian media outlets are scheduled to convene in Jerusalem this fall for a first-of-its-kind Christian media summit.

The four-day event — sponsored by Israel’s Government Press Office (GPO), Foreign Ministry and Jerusalem Affairs Ministry — will see some 140 Christian media associates visit the Jewish state’s capital in mid-October.

The media summit will facilitate tours for participants, including a visit to Gush Etzion — Israel’s largest bloc of communities in Judea and Samaria. The Christian media professionals will also visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Museum, and will participate in conference sessions on topics related to news coverage of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and other senior officials are expected to meet with the Christian media representatives during their visit to the Jewish state. Read More

Love of soccer brings together Jewish and Arab kids

(Photo: Rauf Abu-Panne)

By Ynet - August 23, 2017

Originally appeared here in Ynetnews 

A quarter hour’s drive is all that separates Pardes Hana-Karkur from Kafr Kara, but the actual distance between these two communities is enormous and represents the growing rift between Jewish and Arab society in Israel. The "Soccer for Peace" camp attempts to bridge this gap by means of one thing that connects the two populations—the love of soccer.

Seventy-five Jewish and Arab children arrived earlier this month at Givat Haviva, where they spent three days at a soccer-themed summer camp. Between the games and the breaks, the staff talked to the children about the friendship, love, and solidarity possible between the two societies, Jewish and Arab.
 
The children, mostly sixth graders, come from towns and cities in Wadi Ara and the Triangle area. Jewish communities taking part include Pardes Hanna-Karkur and Gan Hashomron. The Arab children came from Baqa al-Garbiyeh, Barta'a, Iksal, and Kafr Qara. Read More