Israel’s innovative spirit

While Israel is confronted with academic, trade and cultural boycotts, the innovative spirit of the Israeli people cannot be extinguished. The irony is that countries on the forefront of these boycott actions, are the ones who also benefit from the entrepreneurial prowess of the Israeli’s.

Although much of the international media focuses on the negative, many positive developments are indeed happening in Israel. It is, as if the media does not want Israel to have a positive image in the world.

Here are some developments the mainstream media choose not to report:

  1. The Israel emergency response organization ZAKA has received official consultative status from the United Nations. ZAKA will now be recognized as an official body in the UN, which will help it to expand its international search, rescue and recovery missions.
  1. Israel will spend 13 billion shekels ($3.3.billion) over the next five years to improve the standard of living of its Arab minority. Investment will be boosted in education, infrastructure, culture, sports and transportation in Arab areas.
  1. Jerusalem’s water company has been rewarded a key role on the 4-year European Union project to improve governance and social awareness of water environmental challenges. It involves setting up a Digital Social Platform to share details of water scarcity, security and water consumption related issues.

And the good news on a prophetic level:

  1. Over 30,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel in 2015, 10% more than in 2014 and the highest number in over a decade. Nearly 8,000 came from France, while around 7,000 came from Ukraine. Tel Aviv received the most immigrants, followed by Netanya, Jerusalem and Haifa. Aliya from the UK in 2015 increased by 25% since the previous year. Aliya from Western Europe hit record levels.

Israel is called to be a light unto the nations and that role is been fulfilled on many levels.