By TAMARA ZIEVEMK Yair Lapid talks to high-school students in Tel Aviv about his father’s Shoah experiences on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.(photo credit: Courtesy)NORTH Dozens of people attended a protest against air pollution in Haifa last weekend. The protest followed the Health Ministry’s release of data last week linking increased cancer incidence in the Haifa Bay area to air pollution. Ministry officials said they would recommend that their new minister declare the area an air-polluted region.The protesters wore masks with printouts of the faces of those they claim are responsible for the city’s air pollution, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.They called for a halt in plans to expand areas of petrochemical plants in the bay. The protest, which took place two days after Holocaust Remembrance Day, was dubbed the “Memorial and Torch-Lighting Ceremony in Memory of the Victims of Air Pollution in the Bay.”Participants carried torches and observed a minute of silence in memory of patients who had fallen ill due to the pollution, and called on Netanyahu to resolve the crisis immediately.The demonstrators said it was time to “wake up” and that “the Haifa Bay area has become a valley of death as a result of the pollution. It is time for the decision-makers to declare the area an air-polluted one, and to conduct an in-depth, up-to-date epidemiological survey and to stop the expansion of industry – the threefold increase in refineries, the construction of a huge port and fuel tank farm.”12-year-old boy suffers electric shocks in Alonei HabashanA boy suffered electric shocks in the Golan Heights town of Alonei Habashan last weekend. Magen David Adom paramedics were called to the scene and treated the 12-year-old boy before evacuating him by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. He was in moderate-to-serious condition, with multiple fractures and burns to his hands.Drunk man allegedly steals taxi, drives it into wall Police arrested a 30-year-old man last week who was drunk and threatening people on Tiberias’s Habanim Street. Police who arrived at the scene heard a man shouting that his taxi had been stolen. The suspect allegedly got into the taxi after threatening the driver, and started driving. After proceeding a few hundred meters, he reportedly crashed into a concrete wall, sustaining serious injuries. The suspect was evacuated by helicopter to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital. Tiberias police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.CENTER Two teenage girls stabbed in TiraTwo teen girls were stabbed in the predominantly Arab town of Tira on Saturday night, Magen David Adom reported. MDA paramedics arrived at the scene and treated the girls before evacuating them to Kfar Saba’s Meir Medical Center. One of them, 19, was in serious condition, with a stab wound to her upper body, while the other, 16, was in good condition after suffering a stab wound in the back.Two hurt in suspected hit-and-runTwo people were injured in a suspected hit-and-run incident last weekend on Route 20, at the Rokah Junction. Police arrested the suspect, a resident of Givat Ze’ev, and took him in for questioning.Rock-throwing teens arrested after short police chasePolice arrested three teens, ages 13 to 15, last weekend after a brief chase near the Arab village of Sakhnin. The police said the youths had thrown rocks at a police vehicle after a soccer match between Hapoel Ra’anana and Bnei Sakhnin at the Doha Stadium. The three were taken in for questioning.Holocaust survivors recount memories in ‘lounge encounters’In addition to the formal municipal ceremony in Bat Yam to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, 50 meetings took place around the city, in which Holocaust survivors recounted their stories. Hundreds of Bat Yam residents of all ages gathered in homes, youth centers and schools to learn and primarily to remember the inferno that the survivors endured.This was the fifth year that this project, known as “Memories in the Lounge,” had been running. Each year, members of the public are invited to private homes to hear the testimonies of Holocaust survivors in an intimate setting. The evening consists of three parts: a conversation with a survivor who shares his or her memories; poetry readings, music and storytelling; and an open discussion.Lapid gives Shoah lecture at high schoolYesh Atid leader Yair Lapid gave a lecture on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day last week to high-school seniors at a Tel Aviv school. Lapid told the students the story of his father, Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, and his connection to the Holocaust. Lapid and the students discussed the importance of the Holocaust to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, its unique place in Jewish history, and the lessons that could be learned from that dark period.“We learned that we need to survive, because no one else will protect us,” he told the class. “My father was 13, and he did nothing to the people who wanted to murder him. They didn’t want to murder him for what he did, they wanted to murder him for what he was, which is what I am and what you are. They wanted to murder him because he was a Jew.”International olim celebrate Independence Day in TA The Tel Aviv Internationals organization invited young internationals, olim and lone soldiers from all over the world to celebrate Independence Day, in what it publicized as a bash offering “booze, kegs, three grills of meat/veggies,” and music. This was the fifth consecutive year that this event was taking place, and organizers expected it to be even bigger this year due to sponsorship from the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, TLV Internationals, Nefesh B’Nefesh, Alexander Boutique Brewery, Buster’s Beverages (hard cider and lemonade), The Stranger Micro-Brew, and WINGS.SOUTH New stamp marks 50 years of Ashdod PortThe Israel Philatelic service has issued a stamp as part of a series of celebratory events to mark 50 years of Ashdod Port’s existence. The stamp is worth NIS 4.30, and the illustration by Oleh Ofiokov portrays a ship, containers and cranes. A logo reading “50 years of the Ashdod Port company” appears on the stamp, designed by George Ben-Haim. On July 31, 1961, the cornerstone of the port was laid, connecting Israel to the world. The aims of building the port were to settle peripheral areas of the country, aid its economic development and significantly increase the volume of imports and exports. In 1965, after four years of excavations, casting and building, the port began to operate, loading and unloading goods. It is one of the few ports in the world without any natural protection of a bay or river.Man detained after police find livestock in vehicle Beersheba police stopped a suspicious vehicle for inspection last week and found 11 sheep and goats crammed into the back seat. The police took the animals out of the car, gave them water to drink and called a municipal veterinarian team from the Agriculture Ministry, which took care of the animals. The owner of the vehicle, a 30-year-old man, was detained and taken for questioning.BGU hosts international conference on lightBen-Gurion University of the Negev last week hosted an international conference and art exhibition at the Carasso Science Park on the topic of light in art. Speakers from around the world, along with Israeli artists, delivered lectures and presented their work. “BGU is proud to take the lead in the UNESCO ‘Year of Light,’ reflecting our leadership position in the world of photonics research,” said BGU president Prof. Rivka Carmi. BGU stated that it was the country’s only university with an electro-optics engineering unit and that together with the Soreq Nuclear Research Center – NRC, it recently won the tender for the NIS 175 million National Photonics and Electro-Optics Research Center.Prof. Gabby Sarusi from the electro-optics engineering unit is leading the research center and the “Year of Light” initiative.
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