City Notes: Netanya postponing absorption center closure

A round-up of new from around the nation.

By COMPILEDJULIE STEIGERWALD

JUNE 26, 2016 13:27

Vendors sell rainbow souvenirs at the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade, last year (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM) — Vendors sell rainbow souvenirs at the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade, last year

(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

NORTH

Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar has agreed to delay by two months the closure of the city’s absorption center to provide time for MKs to deal with the matter, the Knesset announced.

The Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs prompted the mayor to postpone the closure after the city initially threatened to shutter the center due to long-standing demands for increased state funding and recognition as an aliya-absorption city.

“In Ramat Hasharon, which absorbs fewer immigrants, NIS 17 million was received, and in Netanya, where 40 percent of the population are immigrants, 0% was allocated,” Feirberg-Ikar charged.

The committee’s chairman, Likud MK Avraham Neguise, charged that new immigrants would suffer the most from closing the center. At the conclusion of a discussion in the committee, Feirberg agreed to halt the move and its subsequent layoffs until August 15.

Haifa celebrates LGBT pride parade

Thousands are expected to take part in a show of love, joy, solidarity and demonstration during the Haifa LGBT Pride Parade today.

Held under the banner “Haifa is Proud,” parade-goers will convene at noon at the city’s Shmuel Park before the march sets off at 1 p.m. The parade will conclude in a party with concerts at Gan Ha’em public gardens in the city’s central Carmel Center neighborhood.

The parade in Israel’s third-largest city, held under the auspices of the Haifa Municipality and the city’s LGBT community, aims to promote and call for equal rights, personal security, the ability to dress as desired, love and the free pursuit of one’s dreams.

CENTER

Life imitates art at Rehovot live statue festival

Some 150 artists from Israel and around the world are slated to present a festive spectacle of live statues in Rehovot from July 5 to 7.

The seventh annual Rehovot International Live Statues Festival will see art come alive with the artists posing as statues. Child and youth live-statue artists will also participate in the festivities.

For the first time in seven years, the festival will include a live statue theater performance, which is expected to draw an audience of thousands. Along with the scores of street performers, Israeli choreographer Dror Liberman and Japanese dancer Kazuyo Shionoiri will star in a visual theater performance titled Moonlight.

The exhibition will be open daily throughout the course of the festival from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Hundreds to attend second-ever Limmud TLV forum

More than 500 participants are expected to attend the second annual Limmud TLV forum on Jewish and Israeli culture and education beginning on June 29.

The event, running until July 1, is modeled on the popular Limmud movement that was started 30 years ago in the UK and has been adopted in more than 60 global communities.

The interactive festival’s program will be held in Hebrew, English and French at the Eshkol Pais – Ironi Alef school in Tel Aviv and the Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Jaffa. The three-day event will include dozens of presentations, workshops and musical performances.

Topics discussed will include religion, dating, culture, adoption, Middle East issues, Mossad spies and more.

Admission fees vary. Registration is available at: www.limmudtlv.org/attend