For a country the size of New Jersey with a population smaller than Virginia’s, Israel has achieved spectacular progress in a once unlikely economic sector: science and technology. From a small cluster of industries once focused primarily on the military, this sector has blossomed into a vibrant international hub that shapes the country’s foreign partnerships.

President Nicos Anastasiades paid tribute to Cyprus-Israel relations during the opening of an exhibition in New York titled ‘Jewish refugees in Cyprus en route to Israel’, which was held at the Sam and Esther Minskoff Cultural Centre in Manhattan. 

The Foreign Ministry has been running a diplomatic campaign in world capitals in recent weeks to get them to cancel their travel advisories to Israel, which they issued to their citizens during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. Foreign Ministry officials fear that every day the advisories remain in effect is damaging to both tourism and investments from abroad. 

Israelis see advancing the peace process with the Palestinians as more important than confronting the Iranian nuclear threat, according to a poll published this week. Indeed, the survey shows, the public is more interested in the Israeli government promoting better ties with moderate Arab states and the European Union than in dealing with Tehran’s nuclear program. 

A poll conducted after Israel's latest military operation in Gaza has shown that nearly half of the respondents expected Palestinian reconciliation to fail, despite 87.6% assessing the degree of unity among Palestinian factions to be "good" during the offensive.

“I’m here as an official representative of the state of Israel to say thank you to the Jewish National Fund for all the great work that they’ve done, and bring the message from Israel to the students,” Ido Aharoni said. Aharoni cultivated the concept of “nation branding” and founded the organization “Brand Israel,” a coalition of seven marketing and communication executives. The organizations aims to redirect the existing conversation about Israel.

Jerusalem and Minsk are set to sign a visa-waiver program, Israel’s ambassador to the internationally ostracized former Soviet republic of Belarus said. Ambassador Yosef Shagal announced the signing on Friday to 700 participants at the Limmud FSU conference in Vitebsk, the former Soviet country’s third-largest city. The Limmud conference is an educational and cultural gathering.

Thailand and Israel have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Development Cooperation Program in a bid to enhance bilateral cooperation.   An agreement was made between the Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA) and Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) to accept the MOU.