This week from Israel

Birthright for Christmas

Israeli Tourism Minister Uzi Landau came up with a new initiative to increase the number of tourists arriving in Israel: bringing young Evangelical Christians to Israel for a trip of a lifetime. In a press conference held in Tel Aviv ahead of Rosh Hashannah, Landau said his future plans for increasing the volume of tourism to Israel included a Taglit (Birthright) -style journey for them.

Read more “>here.
 

Hummus in Budapest

Hundreds of Hungarians attended the big opening of The Israeli Market in Budapest last weekend. The market, an initiative of the Israeli Embassy in Hungary, includes stands presenting the best produce the Jewish state has to offer, alongside exhibitions about Israel and travel agents making offers Hungarians couldn't refuse. The highlight of the event was an extremely large plate of Hummus, offered to the visitor for a taste.

Read more “>here. 

When Israel and Disney work together

Haven't you always dreamed of drawing like an artist without actually having the talent? Israeli researchers are working with the technology arm of Disney to develop software that learns artists’ drawing style and how they select features to highlight as they interpret a face in a portrait. In order to do so, the team develops a database representing abstractions of a set of artists. Each one of the seven artists recruited for this task sketched portraits based on 24 photographs of male and female faces using a stylus pen that enabled the researchers to record each stroke.

Read more “>here. 

The end of another World Cup dream

Bad news for Israel's national soccer team: Saturday night's match against Azerbaijan at National Stadium in Ramat Gan ended with a draw, which means that any hope Israel may had of advancing to a first World Cup since 1970 – ended. Another four years of drought.

Read more“>here. 

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