NORTH After hundreds of Maccabi Haifa fans protested the increase in the price of tickets for the soccer match at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, the Haifa Municipality announced that it would hold a large viewing event at the sports complex during Wednesday night's game between Maccabi Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem. The initiative received the blessing of the Maccabi Haifa Football Club. Haifa officials said, “We as a municipality do not have any say when it comes to the price of tickets, but an expression of solidarity is required. The solution that we suggested is a giant event for green [the color of Maccabi Haifa] fans in Haifa, with the hope that there will also be a giant green turnout on the grass at Teddy [Stadium].” Three wounded in attacks on small businesses Two people were wounded on Sunday night in an armed attack on a grocery store in Shfaram. The 55-year-old store owner and a 20-year-old man were taken to Rambam Hospital in moderate condition. A preliminary investigation revealed that two suspects drove up to the store on a scooter, went inside and opened fire. According to police, they fled the scene and authorities were looking for them. In a separate incident, in the nearby village of Kabul, a 36-year-old coffee-shop owner was shot as he closed up shop. A preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect arrived by car, opened fire at the cafe and fled the scene. The victim was in moderate condition. Dual exhibition at Haifa museum An art exhibition has opened at Haifa's Rappaport Museum, featuring the work of artist Gabi Zilberman and photographer Yoel Levi. The exhibition combines painting with photography, creating unique and original images in both color and in black and white. The title of the exhibition, “In the Eye of the Beholder,” refers to the spectator's analysis of the connection between the work of the two artists. The exhibition is open Sunday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CENTER 25,500 runners to take part in Tel Aviv Night Run A record number of 25,000 men and women are set to take part in the sixth annual Tel Aviv Night Run next Tuesday. The 10-kilometer run is organized by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Kapaim company as part of an agenda to promote a healthy and sportive lifestyle. Under the banner “Glow and Glory,” a combination of lighting features will turn the race into a visually spectacular event. Stages for DJs will be set up along the route of the race, and a massive event will take place in the Sportek in Ganei Yehoshua that includes music, VIP areas and vendors selling sports clothing. The run will begin at Rabin Square and end at the Sportek. The first group of runners will set out at 8 p.m., followed by four groups of runners that will begin at different times to allow for maximum space and enjoyment. This year, the route will take runners through major roads and sites in the city, such as Ibn Gvirol, Rothschild Boulevard, Habimah Square, Dizengoff and Nordau streets. In the week leading up to the run, the Israel Diabetes Association is setting up a stand in Rabin Square, where passers-by can check their sugar levels and blood pressure and receive immediate results. This is part of the Early Detection project operated by the Israel Diabetes Association over the past year to raise awareness about the condition and its prevention. The project, which operated a similar stand last February at the Tel Aviv Marathon, presented data that surprised the association itself, revealing that no one is immune to diabetes. Among the people who took tests, including many athletes who are perceived as conducting healthy lifestyles, abnormalities in blood sugar levels were found. Of the 750 people checked, nine percent were found to have particularly high glucose levels, and 40% were found to be at risk of diabetes and in a pre-diabetic state. Holon children's museum launches intergenerational project In honor of Senior Citizens Month, the Israeli Children's Museum, Holon, is launching a project next week that seeks to strengthen ties between the young and old generations. According to museum officials, the project, called Dialogue with Time, is the first project of its kind in the world. The project offers hands-on tours led by energetic guides aged 70 and over that involve intergenerational dialogue, humor, fun and excitement. The tour includes a Bar Mitzva Tour, in which bar mitzva age children are invited, along with their relatives, to have an intergenerational meeting that aims to strengthen their relationships with members of their families through interactive bonding games. Another tour, called Family Roots, offers groups of children and parents the opportunity to travel through time within the framework of the preparation or conclusion of their family tree project, which all Israeli schoolchildren undertake at school. Another aspect of the program invites participants to celebrate their grandparents' birthdays through activities that the whole family can enjoy together. Other elements of the project include retirement parties, where pensioners are invited to explore opportunities post-working life; and retirement workshops that serve as a bridge between working life and retirement, looking at retirement as a new challenge and the chance for fresh experiences. There are also family visits that create a dialogue between children and adults in the same family, focusing on familiarizing the youngsters with old family stories. For one month, starting from October 26, the museum is offering a reduced entrance fee to the exhibition for grandparents and their grandchildren. SOUTH Arad factory throws in the towel Arad Towels was closed down this week and moved to Jordan after the company lost a two-year battle for its survival. Hundreds of employees have been put out of work over the past two years leading up to the factory's closure. Arad Mayor Tali Peloskov said that already two years earlier they saw that the factory was scaling down and moving production lines to Jordan. “We believed that the intellectual and professional strength of the workers in Israel was stronger than the low costs of Jordan,” she said. “We valued and still value the factory owner, Gary Hyman, a Jewish Zionist who had always supported Israel, and our hope was that the factory would get through this difficult period.” She continued, “We knew that the issue of the natural gas pipeline to Arad would help reduce factory costs, and we worked extensively on this issue. We were able to persuade the government to invest NIS 12.5 million in bringing natural gas to Arad to help the factory.” She added that many meetings were held between the factory management and CEO of the Economy Ministry to discuss every possible way to prevent the plant's closure, but to no avail. The Arad Municipality also reported this week that the Elbit factory, in which the government invested millions of shekels and was supposed to employ hundreds of people in the periphery, was also being closed down. “Now it's time for the government to take responsibility for its residents,” the mayor asserted. “The closing down of Arad Towels and Elbit are the exact opposite of all the talk about developing the Negev. The government must build original plans for investors to overcome the distance between the peripheries and the center of the country, and I expect it to do so. The layoffs are a loss not only for the residents of Arad but also for the entire Negev and the whole of Israel.”
