Israel News Roundup – AUGUST 2018

Welcome to Pillar & Cloud’s Israel News Roundup for this month. Below are some interesting articles we came across and wanted to share with our P&C community.

1. Pence’s Biblical Knesset Address Affirms America’s Christian Connection to Israel

Vice President Mike Pence’s address at a special session of the Israeli Knesset on Monday emphasized the unbreakable alliance between the US and Israel. But even more significant in his speech was his description of a common bond in the Bible between the respectively dominant religions of the US and Israel.

“We stand with Israel, because we believe in right over wrong, in good over evil, and in liberty over tyranny,” Pence said in his address. “The people of the US have always held a special affection and admiration for the People of the Book.”

“The Book” Pence was undoubtedly referring to was the Bible, which he said not only described the story of the Jewish people but also foreshadowed the story of America in a similar fashion.

“In the story of the Jews, we’ve always seen the story of America,” he said. “It is the story of Exodus, a journey from persecution to freedom, a story that shows the power of faith and the promise of hope.”

Rabbi Yehudah Glick, a Likud Member of Knesset who is an advocate for religious equality on the Temple Mount, felt that Pence’s reference to the Exodus was especially poignant, and he compared the vice president’s connection with Israel to Biblical Jethro’s connection to the Children of Israel.

SOURCE: Breaking News Israel

2. WATCH: The ‘Innovation Nation’ Transforms the World with Technology!

“Start-up nation” has done it again. Watch and learn how Israel is changing the world with technological innovations.

Israeli technology is so embedded in our daily lives, most people don’t even realize how much this small country has provided to the world. Indeed, the Jewish state’s tech discoveries and developments continue to have a massive impact, making peoples’ lives simpler, safer, and better!

Thanks to Israel, the future is here.

SOURCE: United With Israel

3. Arab Enrollment at Israeli Universities up 79%

The number of Arab students in Israeli universities grew from 26,000 in 2010 to 47,000 in 2017.

The number of Arab students attending Israeli universities has increased by 78.5% over the past seven years, according to new research by Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE), Times of Israel reported on Thursday.

In total, the number of Arab students in Israeli universities grew from 26,000 in 2010 to 47,000 in 2017.

Arab students accounted for 16.1% of undergraduate students in Israeli universities, up from 10.2 % in 2010, the survey revealed. In graduate programs, the percentage of Arab students since 2010 has doubled from 6.2% to 13%. In postgraduate programs, 60% more Arab students are enrolled, up from 3.9% to 6.3%.

The Israeli government has invested $88 million on the program in 2012-2016, which seeks to better integrate the Arab Israeli community into higher education. Because of the success of the initiative, the government has decided to extend its financial support to 2022, with a total budget of $294 million.

The survey further showed that there has been an increase of Arab students in subjects in which their representation has been low in the past. This includes courses in engineering (66%), mathematics and hard sciences (44%), humanities (66%) and business administration (87%).

The Bedouin community, however, remains severely underrepresented in Israeli academia.

SOURCE: United With Israel