A round up of news briefs from around the country.
By GREER FAY CASHMANSha'ar Hanegev regional council chief Alon Shuster.(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
■ THE INSTITUTE for National Security Studies (INSS) and Bar Ilan University will hold a conference on trauma and social resilience in various situations, from military conflicts to natural disasters. The conference will be held on Thursday, June 1, 2017, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at INSS , 40 Haim Levanon Street on the Tel Aviv University campus.The conference will deal with traumatic elements and negative consequences of severe disturbances, along with the possibilities of recovery and renewal. A case study will be presented by Dr. Meir Elran and Carmit Padan, followed by a panel discussion with Alon Shuster, head of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, and Tali Levanon, director of the Israel Trauma Coalition. There will be several other speakers as well, including prize-wining artist Zvika Lachman, who via an exhibition of his art, will talk about “Trauma in the Prism of Art.”A large number of people who have been involved in traffic accidents, military hostilities or violent protest demonstrations or have suffered injury in terrorist attacks or simply witnessed them, are often undergoing trauma without necessarily realizing what has happened to them; Israelis have a natural sense of resilience and are reluctant to acknowledge their weaknesses.The conference aims to create new awareness and understanding.■ TOTALLY UNRELATED to any of the major anniversaries being celebrated by Israel this year was an Israel-China morning last Friday hosted by Prof. Joseph Klafter, president of Tel Aviv University the TAU Alumni Organization and the China-Israel Innovation Forum. After breakfasting together, mingling and networking, participants listened to a panel discussion on “Academy and Industry: The New Power Couple,” in which campus entrepreneurs become the next big industry idea.Among those attending were Prof. Qiu Yong, president of Tsinghua University, and Dori Manor, chairman of the Lubinski Group, the official importers of Peugeot, Citroen and MG vehicles to Israel.■ ON JUNE 4, Italian Ambassador Francesco Maria Talo and his wife will host the traditional Italian National Day reception in the garden of their residence, but because they love Israel and Israelis so much and will soon be leaving the country, they decided to expand the celebration to June 5. On that day, the Italian Embassy, together with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Municipality of Tel Aviv, will present “Musica on the Beach” in conjunction with the Lala Land restaurant on Gordon Beach at 131 Herbert Samuel Street, Tel Aviv.The event, which is co-sponsored by the Italy-Israel Foundation, will feature singers from the Israel Opera.■ PEOPLE FORTUNATE enough to get tickets for the October 31 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba have been instructed to be there very early in the morning because 2,500 to 3,000 people are expected to attend the event, which begins at 9 a.m.All the hotels in Beersheba are already fully booked on that date and the preceding day, which means that people coming from outside Beersheba will have to begin their journey in the predawn hours, and even then will be lucky to arrive on time, given the anticipated significant increase of traffic on the highway.President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, together with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other dignitaries from Australia and New Zealand, will in all likelihood go by helicopter, but most other participants in this mega-event celebrating the victory of the Australian and New Zealand Light Horse regiment over the soldiers of the Ottoman army will have to travel in cars and buses.One can only imagine the amount of traffic congestion that there will be on highways leading from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to Beersheba.
