Cuddle Alert! Giant Pandas Coming to Israel

Image by Reuters

By JTA December 2, 2014

The Chinese government has agreed to send two giant pandas to a zoo in Israel.

The gift will be conferred on the Haifa zoo if Chinese panda experts agree that the conditions in the zoo will be appropriate for the animals, according to Haaretz, including providing the appropriate food, which is a certain kind of bamboo. The zoo must also build a special habitat for the pandas.

A delegation from the Haifa zoo must also visit China to observe the rare animal, which is considered an endangered species.

Haifa and the Chinese city of Chengdu signed a sister-city agreement last week, according to Israel Hayom.

China has used “Panda Diplomacy” for hundreds of years to strengthen ties with other countries.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO