Israeli NGO flies sorely needed aid to women and kids in Chad

By Abigail Klein Leichman - November 17, 2019

One day in October, Sephora was sick with worry. She cares for 105 orphans in Chad, and food was running out. The kids were subsisting on corn porridge, white rice and pasta.

Suddenly, five Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) volunteers appeared at her doorstep. When she saw the Star of David on their shirts, she started to cry.

“Every Sunday in my church we pray for the safety of the Jewish people in Israel. We believe whoever prays for you will be blessed,” Sephora explained to IFA Founder and CEO Gal Lusky. “Now you showed up on one of the worst days of my life.”

Read More: Israel21c

Couple marries in a bomb shelter, defying Gaza rockets

By Stuart Winer - November 13, 2019

The barrage of rockets that pummeled Israel on Tuesday played havoc with the wedding plans of several couples who had scheduled their nuptials at locations that came under fire from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian terror groups launched the assault in response to the IDF’s targeted killing of senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group commander Baha Abu al-Ata early Tuesday.

After the IDF’s Home Command placed limitations on many southern communities from holding public gatherings, couples scrambled to find alternative locations — and in one case downsized their event from 1,000 guests to just 100 who squeezed into a bomb shelter.

Read More: Times of Israel

Descendants of Nazis organize global marches against contemporary anti-Semitism

By Karen Goldfarb - November 8, 2019

NEW YORK — At a candlelight vigil for the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting victims last year after a gunman slaughtered 11 Jews in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in United States history, German-born Claudia Kiesinger stood in solidarity with others voicing outrage over the massacre.

As she took in the scene around her, Kiesinger couldn’t help but ask herself: what would have happened if the Germans — especially after Kristallnacht in November, 1938 — had stood together in similar protest?

“Kristallnacht was the door-opener for all that happened during the Holocaust,” said Kiesinger, the US coordinator for the March of Life, a grassroots movement launched under the auspices of the Evangelical TOS Church in Tubingen, Germany.

The organization reaches out to Holocaust survivors to express remorse over Nazi crimes, and many of its members are descendants of Nazis. In the United States, the group is known as March of Remembrance. (It is not connected to the March of the Living educational program, which was established in 1988.)

Read More: Times of Israel

Kurdish kids getting urgent medical treatment in Israel

(Photo: Steve Walz/Sheba Medical Center)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 27, 2019

A Kurdish refugee toddler — we’ll call him Ajwan, for security reasons – is the latest of 44 Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish children who’ve had emergency medical treatment at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center in 2019 alone.

Ajwan, three and a half, had lifesaving open-heart surgery that wasn’t available in Iraqi Kurdistan, where his family has been living for a few years due to the dangers the community faces in northern Syria.

“I was not afraid to come to Israel, even though I was warned I could lose my Syrian passport,” his mother told the local press. She’ll probably stay with Ajwan for about two weeks before he’s able to return home.

“The [Kurdish] parents we see are really beautiful people. It’s hard to express how nice and warm they are,” says Dr. David Mishali, head of International Congenital Heart Surgery at Sheba’s Safra Children’s Hospital.

Entry visas for Ajwan and his mother, as well as the others, were expedited by the Israeli Interior Ministry in coordination with Shevet Achim, a Christian Zionist organization based in Jerusalem.

Read More: Israel21c

Israeli Archaeologists Uncover 1,500-Year-Old Church Dedicated to a 'Glorious Martyr'

By Emily Jones, Julie Stahl - October 24, 2019

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli archaeologists have uncovered a significant 1,500-year-old church near Israel's Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood.

This Byzantine-era church was erected during the time of Emperor Justinian in 543 AD. A chapel was later added during the reign of Emperor Tiberius II Constantine. The inscription found at the excavation site says the church was completed with his financial support.

"Numerous written sources attest to imperial funding for churches in Israel, however, little is known from archaeological evidence such as dedicatory inscriptions like the one found in Beit Shemesh," said Benjamin Storchan, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. "Imperial involvement in the building's expansion is also evoked by the image of a large eagle with outspread wings – the symbol of the Byzantine Empire – which appears in one of the mosaics."

The three-year excavation revealed a complex that was once adorned with detailed mosaics, towering pillars, and colorful frescoes.

Read More: CBN

Amazon launches series on hi-tech, with focus on Israel’s Startup Nation

By Nadine Wojakovski - October 18, 2019

Over 50 cutting-edge Israeli tech companies are featured in the first season of a new series released on Amazon Prime Video on October 18 called “TechTalk.” Season two features startups in New York, and season three hits Los Angeles.

The show’s creator is co-founder of Tech Talk Media, Jonny Caplan. He’s a British-born entrepreneur who moved from England to Israel in 2013 to explore the Startup Nation’s “multipotential” tech scene.

Caplan believes that multipotentiality — a concept first coined by Emilie Wapnick, TED speaker and author of “How to Be Everything” — is the driving force behind the burgeoning success of the startup industry. According to Wapnick, “Instead of picking one thing and denying all of our other interests, we can find ways to integrate our many passions into our lives.”

Caplan explains that by “defying the norm, multipotentialities have no single definitive skill, yet we have a multitude of talents and creativity which we can pursue simultaneously.”

The philosophy inspired him to pursue his flagship documentary series “TechTalk,” the first in a range of titles on emerging global startups and innovators.

What Caplan discovered in Israel — and in particular in his new hometown of Tel Aviv, which has the highest concentration of startups per capita in the world — led him to set up his US-based media and entertainment company with his partner, Ronald R. Hans.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israel to construct first waste-to-energy power plant

(Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

By Etan Halon - October 15, 2019

The Finance Ministry and Ministry of Environmental Protection have announced plans to construct Israel’s first waste-to-energy power plant, estimated to cost NIS 1 billion.

An inter-ministerial committee for the treatment of waste, estimated at 5 million tons annually, published Thursday a pre-qualification document ahead of the public-private-partnership (PPP) tender to plan, fund, construct and operate the facility.

Incinerating waste to produce electricity, the plant will be built at the “Good Samaritan” recycling park near Ma’aleh Adumim. The plant is expected to serve as the primary waste treatment facility for the Jerusalem metropolitan area and surrounding towns.

According to the ministries, the new site – which is estimated to commence operations in another six years – will be home to an innovative waste sorting facility and the most advanced energy recovery facility worldwide, producing electricity from waste under stringent environmentally-friendly conditions.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Gadot to produce, star in film on Polish woman who saved 2,500 kids from Nazis

(Photo: AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

By TOI Staff - October 12, 2019

Israeli actress Gal Gadot announced on Friday that she and her husband have formed a new production company whose first film she will star in as a Polish woman credited with saving 2,500 Jewish children from the Holocaust.

The historical thriller, ‘Irena Sendler,’ follows the eponymous heroine beginning with her arrest by the Gestapo at the height of World War II. “The drama becomes a race against time to save not only herself but the identities of the hidden thousands who’ll face certain execution,” the Deadline website summarized.

Sendler was a social worker who smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany. The children were placed with Christian families and in convents and given new names to hide their identities. Sendler died in 2008.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israel and Gulf states working on ‘historic pact’ to end conflict between them

(Photo: Courtesy Katz's office)

By TOI Staff and Raphael Ahren - October 5, 2019

Israel is reportedly negotiating with several Gulf states on a “non-aggression pact” between them as they face off against an increasingly emboldened Iran. The deal, which Channel 12 news described as potentially “historic,” aims to put an end to the state of conflict between the Gulf states and Israel, and reportedly provides for friendly relations, cooperation in a variety of fields, and no war or incitement against each other.

Advancing the Israeli initiative, Foreign Minister Israel Katz met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month with several foreign ministers from Arab Gulf states, Channel 12 news reported Saturday night.

Read More: Times of Israel

Israeli hospital donates equipment and knowhow to Nepal

(Photo: Israeli Embassy in Nepal)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - October 3, 2019

Five physicians from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center recently brought medical equipment to Kathmandu and shared their expertise on women’s and children’s health with the medical staffs of two local hospitals.

Sponsored by the Embassy of Israel in Nepal, the Israeli team led a week of workshops and continuing medical education courses in neonatology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology. They taught the Nepali medical professionals how to use the new lifesaving technologies they donated.

Senior gynecologist Dr. Ronit Almog said this was the fifth such foreign delegation sent out by Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in the past year.

“Our aim is to reduce fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality in developing nations,” she said. “We met warm and welcoming medical teams and had a great cooperation. We saw a very good health level and system in Nepal and look forward to future mutual cooperation.”

Read More: Israel21c

Jerusalem NGO part of group planning African solar fields

(Photo: ICSD)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - September 29, 2019

Large-scale solar fields on church-owned land in Mozambique and Eswatini are to be built through the Faith Inspired Renewable Energy project, a collaboration between the Jerusalem-based Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD), renewable energy company Gigawatt Global, and the Anglican Church in northern Mozambique and Eswatini.

“The overwhelming majority of rural households, schools, and health clinics in Niassa Province lack electricity,” explained Phillipa Friedland, deputy director of ICSD, as she signed a memorandum of understanding in Lichinga, Mozambique with Niassa Governor Francisca Domingos Tomas.

Read More: Israel21c

Archaeology Confirms Book of Genesis on Israel’s Arch-nemesis, the Edomites

(Photo: Ariel David)

By Ariel David - September 18, 2019

It’s not every day that science and archaeology find confirmation of the Bible. But this seems to be the case with new research claiming that the biblical kingdom of Edom was much older than scholars previously thought. In fact it arose even before the formation of ancient Israel - just like it says in the Book of Genesis.

Read More: Haaretz

Ancient mosaic in Burnt Church in Galilee depicts miracle

(Photo: Michael Eisenberg)

By Israel21c Staff - September 11, 2019

A well-preserved mosaic including pictures of baskets with loaves and fish was exposed by archeologists in the “Burnt Church” of Hippos overlooking the Sea of Galilee from the east.

The depictions in the mosaic, along with the location of the church, immediately raise a connection to Jesus’ Feeding the Multitude miracle described in all four Gospels.

“There can certainly be different explanations to the descriptions of loaves and fish in the mosaic, but you cannot ignore the similarity to the description in the New Testament: for example, from the fact that the New Testament has a description of five loaves in a basket or the two fish depicted in the apse, as we find in the mosaic,” said Michael Eisenberg, head of the multinational excavation team in Hippos on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa.

Read More: Israel21c

Tiny First Temple seal impression found with name of Bible-era royal steward

(Photo: Eliyahu Yanai/Courtesy City of David)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan - September 9, 2019

A minuscule 7th century BCE clay sealing reading “Belonging to Adoniyahu, the Royal Steward,” was recently discovered in the City of David’s sifting project.

In earth excavated from the foundations of the Western Wall under Robinson’s Arch in 2013, a national service volunteer some three weeks ago unearthed the one-centimeter inscribed letter sealer bearing the ancient Hebrew name of a character found several times in the Hebrew Bible, Adoniyahu, literally, “The Lord is my Master.”

According to archaeologist Eli Shukron, this inscription is unique and “of utmost importance.” The role of the Royal Steward (Asher al Habayit), he said, appears several times in the Bible and is used for the highest-level minister in the royal court. For example, the title of Royal Steward was used in the Book of Genesis for Joseph’s high-powered position in Egypt.

Read More: Times of Israel

IsraAID sends emergency aid to Bahamas after catastrophic hurricane

(Photo: Image via Shutterstock, with elements from NASA)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - September 4, 2019

As Hurricane Dorian finally begins to move away from the Bahamas, and the full extent of the destruction is revealed, Israeli humanitarian aid agency IsraAID is preparing to send vital emergency support.

So far, seven people are reported killed and about 13,000 homes damaged or destroyed on Abaco and Grand Bahama islands – about 45 percent of all the houses on the islands. Thousands of people are without shelter, often stranded by flooding, and facing food, water and medicine shortages.

“We are in the midst of a historic tragedy,” the Bahamian prime minister, Hubert Minnis, told the press. “The devastation is unprecedented and extensive.”

Dorian made landfall on Grand Bahama in the early hours of Monday morning as a category 5 hurricane, and continued to batter the tiny archipeligo for an unprecedented 36 hours. Winds reached up to 295 kilometers (183 miles) per hour, making it one of the strongest Atlantic storms to hit the region.

The Israeli NGO announced yesterday evening that it will send an emergency response team to distribute urgent relief supplies, offer psychological first aid, and deploy water filters to restore access to drinking water. The team also will conduct further needs assessments in affected communities.

Read More: Israel21c

Archaeological Discovery Helps Prove Babylonian Conquest of Israel

(Photo: Mt Zion Archaeological Expedition/Virginia Withers)

By Zachary Keyser - August 14, 2019

Archaeologists have unearthed evidence pointing to the validity of the Babylonian Conquest of the Holy City of Jerusalem in 587/586 BCE, as described by the Bible, according to a release published earlier this week.

A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, who have been excavating the hill known as Mount Zion in Jerusalem, say they have discovered arrowheads dating from the period, layers of ash, Iron Age potsherds, as well as a "significant" piece of jewelry - a gold silver tassel or earring - archetypal of the period in question.

"The team believes that the newly-found deposit can be dated to the specific event of the conquest because of the unique mix of artifacts and materials found -- pottery and lamps, side-by-side with evidence of the Babylonian siege represented by burnt wood and ashes, and a number of Scythian-type bronze and iron arrowheads which are typical of that period," the UNC archaeological team wrote in a statement.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Newly deciphered Moabite inscription may be first use of written word ‘Hebrews’

(Photo: Adam Bean)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan - August 28, 2019

The earliest written use of the word “Hebrews” may have been found upon an inscribed Moabite altar discovered during ongoing excavations at the biblical site of Atarot (Khirbat Ataruz) in Jordan. The two newly deciphered late 9th century or very early 8th century BCE Moabite inscriptions incised into the cylindrical stone altar serve as tangible historical anchors for a battle of epic proportions.

According to researcher Adam Bean’s Levant article on the find, “An inscribed altar from the Khirbat Ataruz Moabite sanctuary,” the inscriptions offer new insight into the bloody aftermath of the conquest of Atarot that is described in the famed Mesha Stele and in the Bible. In 2 Kings 3:4-5, after the death of King Ahab of Israel (reigned ca. 869-850 BCE), King Mesha of Moab rebelled against Israelite hegemony but was defeated.

Read More: Times of Israel

Could racing drones be the answer to the fire-kite threat?

(Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)

By Brian Blum - August 21, 2019

One of the most out-of-the-box approaches proposed to stop the thousands of Gaza “fire kites” – the incendiary devices that have been sent over the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel on kites and balloons, setting fire to thousands of acres and landing occasionally in kindergarten playgrounds – was to shoot the kites out of the sky using remotely operated “racing drones.”

Drone racing has become a popular niche sport around the world. Participants build extremely fast and agile multi-rotor drones and race them against each other around a course. Serious drone pilots use FPV (first-person view) goggles to experience what the drone is seeing rather using a monitor and a joystick.

When a small team of drone enthusiasts gathered last year on the Gaza border, they demonstrated that they could effectively neutralize the fire-kite threat. But there are not enough skilled racing-drone pilots in the country for the army to recruit.

Read More: Israel21c

IDF vets volunteer in distressed villages across the globe

By Abigail Klein Leichman - August 6, 2019

Israelis call it the “big trip” – an extended trek to exotic destinations between completing military or national service and continuing with life. At any given time, thousands of young Israelis are traveling in remote locations, often in poor countries. So why not volunteer while there?

That was the concept that motivated three Israeli army officer veterans, fresh from a trip to Thailand, to establish Heroes for Life (in Hebrew, Fighters without Borders) in 2013 as a vehicle “to show the world the compassionate face of former IDF soldiers.”

When ISRAEL21c first wrote about this unique organizationin September 2016, its English name was Fighters for Life and it operated two-week volunteering gigs in Gondar, Ethiopia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Mumbai, India.

Less than three years later, the renamed Heroes for Life is sending about 5,000 volunteers each year on missions that have so far assisted some 4,100 children.

Read More: Israel21c

Hebrew inscriptions exposed for the first time since historic synagogue was destroyed in the Holocaust

Photo: Jon Seligman, Israel Antiquities Authority

By James Rogers - July 23, 2019

Archaeologists have uncovered 200-year-old Hebrew inscriptions at the site of the Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius) in Lithuania for the first time since its destruction during the Holocaust.

Constructed in the 17th century, the impressive Renaissance-Baroque-style Great Synagogue was razed during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania.

Lithuanian and Israeli researchers have found an inscription, dated to 1796, that was part of a stone Torah reading table in the synagogue. The table was used to read the Torah to the synagogue’s congregation until the building’s burning and final destruction by the Soviets 70 years ago.

Read More: Fox News