Time Out magazine has ranked Tel Aviv as the world’s “funnest” city, and eighth of the 37 “best cities” around the world; Despite recent forest fires, the 2021 Global Tree Assessment gave Israel’s a high ranking; and much more!

By Michael Ordman

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Tel Aviv – the world’s funnest city

Time Out magazine has ranked Tel Aviv as the world’s “funnest” city, and eighth of the 37 “best cities” around the world. It also came second in the food and drink category and was the city most likely to be described by its residents as “good for people like me.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/time-out-ranks-tel-aviv-as-worlds-funnest-city-8th-best-overall/

Special WHO performance

Israel’s Shalva Band of musicians with disabilities performed “A Million Dreams” for the World Health Organization (WHO). They helped promote its Regional Committee for Europe (online) Conference on the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313777

Balzan prize-winner

Israeli-French-American Holocaust survivor and historian Saul Friedlander was one of the recipients of this year’s Balzan Prizes, for scholarly and scientific achievements. The prize, and 750,000 Swiss francs, was for his work broadening the perspective on the history of the Holocaust.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/holocaust-historian-saul-friedlander-wins-815000-balzan-prize/

The 4th top country for digital quality of life

Israel has risen from 8th place to 4th in the annual Digital Quality of Life Index 2021 (see here for 2020 ranking). 110 countries were ranked on digital wellbeing based on factors such as internet affordability (Israel 2nd), quality (11th), and e-government services (29th).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ranks-4th-in-world-for-digital-quality-of-life/

Healthy trees

Despite recent forest fires, the 2021 Global Tree Assessment reports that 45 of Israel’s 65 wild tree species are in the “Least Concern” category. 30% of the rest of the world’s 58,497 known tree species are threatened with extinction but only one Israeli tree – the Negev tamarisk is categorized as “endangered”.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trees-doing-well-according-to-global-assessment-of-58497-world-species/

Aid to Vietnam

The Israeli Embassy in Vietnam has distributed 500 packages of food and basic hygiene products to some of the weakest families on the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam. The coronavirus pandemic has caused destitution and each of the packages contains enough to sustain a family for one week.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/313638

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