Four stars from CBS’ long running crime dramas-CSI: Miami and CSI:NY  flew into Israel recently to examine the historical, religious and cultureal beauty of Israel as guests of the Tourism Ministry. The group, which included actors Jonathan Frederick Togo and Omar Benson Miller (stars of CSI: Miami) and Carmine Giovinazzo and AJ Buckley (stars of CSI: NY), as well as Vanessa Marcil (General Hospital and Beverly Hills 90210), visited Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea and Masada and the Galilee, among other tourism destinations. The week-long tour represents the first time these actors have visited Israel.

Monday and Thursday nights in Jerusalem’s Old City have just changed for the better, with extended opening hours at many leading tourist attractions and new exiting cultural events late into the night. Beginning May 2012, the enchanting ancient streets of Jerusalem’s Old City will come alive with a number of cultural events and museums opening their doors late into the evening. An array of Viennese Waltz, Jazz and theatrical journeys will add to the many major tourist sites that have extended their opening hours into the night.

On Mondays the City of David will be open until 11:30pm, Old Yishuv Court Museum till 8pm. Those who book in advance will be privileged enough to experience a night tour of the Western Wall Tunnels. On Thursdays the Tower of David Museum will stay open until 7:30pm, while The Herodian Quarter Wohl Archeology Museum won’t close till 8pm. With so much to do and see across the capital, many visitors complain that there aren’t enough hours in the day. From now on, Mondays and Thursdays in the Old City just got longer.

For more information: www.itraveljerusalem.com

Balabasta at Machane Yehuda

Throughout 3,000 years of history, Jerusalem served as a source of inspiration to poets, musicians and other creative spirits. Now, the Jerusalem Season of Culture summons the ancient muse for an annual summer showcase of the city’s contemporary cultural treasures. From mid-May through the end of July 2012, the city will host a series of riveting artistic experiences spanning the worlds of dance, music, poetry, philosophy, visual art, new media, and more. Highlights of the Jerusalem Season of Culture include:

May 13-18, 2012.  The Season Prologue: The 3^rd International Writers’ Festival

at Mishkenot Sha’ananim. This bi-annual celebration of the written word showcases leading authors from Israel and around the world in discussions, lectures and cross-disciplinary exchanges  http://philosophy.mouse.co.il/en/

21-28 June.  Going up: Jerusalem—Reality & Art Alongside Route no.1

Going up: Jerusalem is a creative act by a group of artists, social activists and intellectuals who will make a collective pilgrimage to Jerusalem over 5 days in pursuit of an alternative reality. The pilgrimage will end in a communal tent at the Wohl Rose Garden opposite the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), where the public will be invited to join along for a series of activities.

4-6 July. In-House, A Festival of Dance, Theatre and Music in Private homes

Jerusalem’s most intriguing homes open their doors to dance, theater, music and poetry for unique encounters between audience and performer. Inaugurated as part of the 2011 Season, the In-House Festival will focus this year on original productions commissioned specifically for the festival in partnership with local and international artists.

12 July. Contact Point.  Leading Israeli artists will create live interventions, or “contact points,” with works of art on exhibit across the campus of the renewed Israel Museum. Dancers, actors, poets, philosophers, musicians, DJ’s, MC’s and more perform throughout the night at the Israel Museum, with the Silent Wi-Party taking place right under Anish Kapoor’s Turning the World Upside Down, Jerusalem.

12 – 19 July. Under the Mountain—A festival of new public art and an open exhibition with multiple participants, from Israel and abroad, that takes place in public spaces, via diverse media outlets, and in state institutions. It includes movement, media broadcasts, human behavior, political experiments, new monuments, artists as journalists, knowledge exchanges, and parties in the city that is at once home to Israel’s parliament, a world capital, and the heart of an ongoing conflict.

6,7,9 September. Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival.  For 24 hours, musicians and artists from Israel and abroad, from different and varied traditions, will rejoice in the concept of “sanctity”, and imbue it with new life and meaning. The festival will unfold in

various locations throughout the city, and invite visitors on a 24-hour sacred-musical trip that will celebrate the sanctity within each of us, regardless of color, gender, religion or world view.

15 July – 15 August  Artist of the Season. Recently graduated from the Bezelel Academy of Art and Design Gabriella Barouch ‘s Pop-up Shop that will appear in the city center for one month, featuring her original merchandise, as well as additional Jerusalem-inspired works by some talented local artists.

6,13,20,27  August. Balabasta Festival. The Machane Yehuda market is the stage for dancers, musicians, sculptors, actors and poets – all this among the colorful market stalls throughout the evening hours.

www.jerusalemseason.com

For the first time in history, visitors to Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People, will be able to view the secret operational documents that led to the Mossad capture of Adolf Eichmann. In a new exhibition entitled “Operation Finale- The Story of the Capture of Adolf Eichmann” that opens in mid-February

The Mossad File

at Bet Hatfutsot in northern Tel-Aviv.

In the exhibition; the Mossad – Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations – chronicles for the first time the story of the abduction through documents illustrating details of the operation – an undertaking which had never before been attempted.  The evidence on display in this exhibition represents a body of material gathered during this unprecedented operation. It is rightly heralded as a life-changing event in the history of the State of Israel and the entire world, when the heroic deeds of a few allowed others to raise their voices so that a doubting world would hear the truth.

In 1960, Eichmann was abducted in a Mossad operation led by Isser Harel, who was assisted by a team from the operational unit of the Shin Bet (General Security Services). Eichmann was smuggled out of Argentina and flown to Israel with the aid of an El Al plane and crew.   The operation assured that he would be tried in Jerusalem, the capital of the sovereign Jewish state. Eichmann’s trial marked the first time that the story of the Holocaust survivors was revealed to the entire world; their memories and testimonies drew a picture of the human spirit elevated to heights of strength and nobility in the face of heinous crimes too horrible to fathom.

The Mossad is lifting its veil of secrecy in order to educate those who were not alive during the Holocaust, as well as to salute the organizations and individuals in Israel and abroad who acted at great risk, and to give thanks to them and their families. A special thanks, also, to those whose names and identities must remain secret.

http://www.bh.org.il/on-line-exhibition-intro.aspx?91025