NORTH
British Ambassador Matthew Gould and his wife Celia celebrated the
official launch of the fourth Café Britannia Holocaust Survivors’ Club in Kiryat
Bialik on Sunday.
The club was founded in the Tzur Shalom neighborhood,
where a relatively large number of Holocaust survivors reside. The launch was
the fruit of collaboration among the municipality, the Foundation for the
Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, and the UK Jewish community, which
generously supported the initiative. The project came about after Kiryat Bialik
Mayor Eli Dukorsky and municipality staff identified a need to create a social
setting for survivors. The club also serves other survivors living in the
greater area.
“My wife, Celia, and I are thrilled to be here with you. We
came to Israel just over two years ago, and when we came we knew we wanted to do
something for the survivors,” Gould told community members at the opening, in a
mixed Hebrew and English address.
“Because we thought it is incredibly
important that you will be treated with full respect, you should be able to live
in the comfort that you deserve, and that we, the people in the world and
[especially] Jewish people, owe you a particular debt of gratitude.”
The
official opening came months after the club opened its doors last April to a
community of 90 survivors.
Members socialize with other community members
and participate in activities including arts, crafts, tours and Jewish holiday
celebrations.
Addressing the club participants, Dukorsky said, “We are
delighted to see you as you arrive each day with great pleasure and enjoy the
different activities.
Your active participation and the increasing number
are the sign and concrete proof of the success of the project.”
There are
seven clubs of this kind operating across the country, and four more are set to
be established by the end of 2014.
‘So French So Good’ gastronomy week
kicks off
Four French Michelin-star chefs were due to arrive in Israel for
French Gastronomy Week and give master classes around the country to instructors
from leading culinary institutions, in an initiative led by the Tourism
Ministry. The culinary quartet of Christophe Dovergne, Christopher Hache, Damien
Piscioneri and Thierry Marx was set to lead workshops in Haifa, Tiberias,
Herzliya and Eilat on Thursday.
The “So French So Good” festival,
sponsored by the French Embassy, also features special meals that the visiting
French chefs and their Israeli counterparts will prepare in select Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem restaurants, as well as an “Art and Food” photography exhibition from
the International Culinary Photography Festival.
“Israeli cuisine
enriches the Israeli tourism product and enriches the country’s appeal for
incoming tourists,” said Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov. “Cooperation with one
of the world’s culinary powers such as France plays a pivotal role in upgrading
the tourism product for tourists and locals alike.”
Karmiel: Police
arrest man over stun grenade
Police arrested a 23-year-old man suspected of
throwing a stun grenade at an apartment in Karmiel last weekend.
The man
reportedly threw the grenade as a consequence of an argument between him and
another man.
No injuries or damages were reported in the
incident.
Brawl between families leaves 3 wounded
Three people were hurt
in a brawl between rival families in the Arab village of Tamra over the weekend,
police said.
One of the people involved in the incident was stabbed and
severely hurt, while the other two suffered light wounds. Police arrested three
suspects.
1 killed, 1 critically hurt in car crash near Jezreel Valley
A
55-year-old man was killed and a 30-year-old man was critically injured in a car
accident last weekend on Route 60 between the Jezreel Valley junction and
Afula.
Magen David Adom paramedics evacuated the younger man to Emek
Medical Center in Afula.
CENTER
TA city hall hosts weekly fun-time for
kids
The Tel Aviv Municipality announced last week that it has begun hosting a
games extravaganza for children every Thursday. Children and parents can escape
the winter weather and revel in giant games such as dominoes, pick-up sticks and
snakes and ladders, or they can curl up for story time. Entrance to the indoor
playground is free, and opening times are between 4 and 7. p.m.
Herzliya
teams up with Stamford for pain management research
Herzliya company ElMindA and
Stamford, Connecticut company Purdue entered a strategic, multi-year
collaboration agreement last week, focusing on pain diagnosis and management.
The partnership will involve numerous projects designed to discover and develop
clinical diagnostic tests and biomarkers to manage pain and pave the way to
developing more effective pain treatments.
Founded in 2006, ElMindA is a
leading innovator in neuro-technology that has developed a system capable of
providing drug developers with superior insights into the effect of therapeutic
interventions on brain function.
“We are extremely pleased to enter into
this collaboration with Purdue Pharma that will apply our advanced Brain
Networks Activation (BNA) technology to research efforts for the development of
better diagnostic tools and biomarkers for pain management,” said ElMindA CEO
Ronen Gadot. He described the partnership as a significant step forward for the
company, marking an expansion of its collaborations with pharmaceutical
companies, as well as adding pain management to the company’s portfolio of
therapeutic focus.
Purdue chief medical officer Dr. Craig Landau also
lauded the new partnership, saying his staff was “very excited about this collaboration and looks forward to leveraging ElMindA’s BNA
technology in a combined effort to enhance the diagnosis, treatment and
management of pain.”
Foreign worker found dead in suspected murder
A
45-year-old foreign worker was found dead in Kibbutz Ha’ogen over the weekend
with signs of violence on his body.
Magen David Adom paramedics
pronounced him dead at the scene. Police were called to the area and opened an
investigation into the cause of the man’s death.
SOUTH
Seven months
later: Stolen jeep returned to owners
Arad Police this week located a jeep that
was stolen seven months ago, and returned it to its rightful owners, the Local
website reported.
The owners, residents of the country’s Center, had lost
hope of ever seeing their vehicle again and did not have insurance for
it.
However, Arad Police found the car in the West Bank during an
intelligence operation, brought it to the police station in the city and located
its owners.
Ashkelon starts financial aid hotline
The recent fighting
during Operation Pillar of Defense not only caused emotional and physical scars,
it also economically harmed many families in the South. As a result, the
Ashkelon municipality has aided the Pa’amonim organization in setting up a
hotline for families in financial distress to help them get back on their feet,
the Local website reported last week.
Volunteers working for the help
line will offer financial guidance and counseling to southern residents. The
team comprises a variety of professionals, including home economics experts,
bankers, national insurance representatives, insurance advisers, and attorneys
who specialize in labor law. The center will operate in full cooperation and
coordination with all relevant state authorities. Pa’amonim has called on every
family seeking financial guidance to contact the hotline, and emphasized that
the consultations are free of charge.
Joel Copeland, Pa’amonim’s director
in the Jerusalem and southern region, stressed that in some cases a solution can
be pinpointed through consultation in a specific field without the need for a
complicated or drawn-out process, and that can successfully guide a family in
how to manage a well-organized budget responsibly.
“We will work
energetically to help the public learn the language of ‘economic
responsibility,’ and in this way we will aid Israeli society to achieve
socioeconomic resilience,” he added.
Eilat: Police detain 2 teens over
cat abuse film
Police detained two youths from Eilat last week following
accusations that they had made a film in which one of the boys was abusing a
cat, according to the Local website.
The complaint, lodged by nonprofit
organization Let the Animals Live, accused one of the teenagers of posting a
video on his Facebook page in which he appears to be kicking a cat. The second
boy was suspected of filming his friend’s actions. The two, aged 14 and 15, were
taken for questioning on suspicion of abusing an animal. They admitted to having
made the film and were released under restrictive conditions.
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