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Sue Surkes

Sue Surkes

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
View of an empty classroom at a school in Tel Aviv, during a strike, on May 4, 2025. Yehoshua Yosef/Flash90)
August 26, 2026, 6:04 am
Israeli teachers lag behind OECD peers in literacy, numeracy, problem-solving — study
Shoresh Institution highlights educators’ low skill level in science, technology, engineering, math; recommends teachers first get a degree in a discipline, then a teaching qualification
By Sue Surkes
A teacher educates children at the al-Mawasi camp in the Gaza Children's Village. (Courtesy)
August 25, 2026, 10:04 am
Israeli aid group announces new medical clinic for 10,000 children in Gaza refugee camp
Set to open September 1 in crowded Al-Mawasi, facility will provide vaccinations, consultations, rehab for children with disabilities, education services with anti-hate messaging
By Sue Surkes and ToI Staff
Israeli soldiers look around the destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, October 15, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
August 19, 2026, 2:20 pm
KKL-JNF to invest NIS 284 million in development of southern Israel
Sum includes NIS 110m for Gaza border area; NIS 15 million will help fund Kibbutz Kfar Aza memorial plan, where Heritage Ministry tried to condition a grant on approval and veto power
By Sue Surkes
A Bengalese finch father (right) teaches his son how to sing. (Kazuo Okanoya)
August 18, 2026, 2:29 pm
Finches use the same rulebook as human babies to pick up language, study finds
International team that includes Israeli cognitive scientist adds Bengalese finches to humpback whales in search for animals that learn using same mathematical principles as we do
By Sue Surkes
A homeless man sits on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, July 28, 2026. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
August 18, 2026, 9:56 am
State covers just 13% of registered food aid charities’ budgets, study finds
First national mapping of food aid groups finds vast gaps in geographical, sectoral distribution; calls for nutrition standards, reporting, coordination between groups and state
By Sue Surkes
The carcass of one of around 30 white storks killed by electrocution in the central Jordan Valley, Auagust 17, 2026 (Yuval Bashan, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel)
August 17, 2026, 1:33 pm
Officials urge action as dozens of storks electrocuted on Jordan Valley power lines
Reporting new discovery of 30 electrocuted birds, Society for Protection of Nature calls on Electric Corporation to insulate poles. IEC: Plans advancing to bury some infrastructure
By Sue Surkes
A slice of pizza. Beta-casein, successfully engineered into a plant at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, is one of the milk proteins responsible for making cheese melts. (Proformabooks, iStock by Getty Images)
August 16, 2026, 2:56 am
Milk from seeds: Israeli scientists produce key dairy protein from safflower plant
Hebrew University researchers say beta-casein, which helps cheese melt, can be found in ‘cream’ pressed from seeds, eradicating need for cows, and slashing costs and livestock emissions
By Sue Surkes
Part of the archeological site of the Avdat National Park seen through an ancient variety of grape vine, Negev Highlands, southern Israel. (Courtesy, Lior Schweimer, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)
August 4, 2026, 6:51 am
Long-lost Byzantine-era vines are again cultivated on ancient Negev terraces
Discovery of 7th-century grape seeds at Avdat National Park in southern Israel inspires Nature and Parks Authority archaeologist to recreate wine valued across the ancient empire
By Sue Surkes
Contaminated water flows in the Hebron Stream below Palestinian village of ad-Dahariya, between banks coated in stone dust, July 14, 2026. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)
August 2, 2026, 5:02 am
As toxic sewage and factory sludge choke Hebron stream, locals refuse to go with the flow
Inadequate infrastructure and coordination result in dumping by Palestinian residents and industry, causing soil and groundwater pollution. Israel’s response has been frustratingly partisan
By Sue Surkes
Flowering wild plants that were tested for drought both as individual species growing alone, and in a group. From top left to bottom right: Palestine catchfly, Israel marigold, purple clover, spring groundsel, common oat, and a mixed-species community containing all five species. (Barel Tsafon)
July 22, 2026, 4:36 pm
Drought makes Israeli wildflowers change bloom schedule, study finds
Hebrew University team finds timing of water shortages matters more than duration, with fall and spring droughts narrowing flowering season
By Sue Surkes
Ofir Drori poses in Cameroon with elephant tusks seized from an African-Asian crime syndicate. (Courtesy, EAGLE)
July 18, 2026, 7:34 am
Inspired by IDF training, Israeli activist spearheads fight against global wildlife crime
Ofir Drori established a network that put 3,000 major animal traffickers behind bars. But now, he is struggling to keep his operation afloat
By Sue Surkes
A dump in Kafr Manda in northern Israel, whose owner was fined nearly $240,000 by the Environmental Protection Ministry for illegal burning of waste, January 14, 2020. (Environmental Protection Ministry)
July 17, 2026, 9:48 pm
Just before disbanding, Knesset passes long-awaited construction waste law
Law sets rules for waste from building sites through transport, processing, recycling; doesn’t apply to West Bank, where waste dumping is extensive; funding for law is unclear
By Sue Surkes
Klil Halevi (far left) poses with other researchers from the laboratory of Prof. Ron Milo (center, in blue top) located at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. (Courtesy)
July 16, 2026, 2:45 pm
‘It’s like magic’: In world first, Weizmann scientists on path to create food from air
Researchers engineer bacteria that grow fast on diet of CO₂ with eventual aim of developing microbial food products for humans and animals
By Sue Surkes
Calves transported from Australia to Israel by sea photographed covered in dried excrement. (Israel Against Live Shipments)
July 16, 2026, 10:24 am
Welfare activists petition High Court in bid to end live animal shipments
Noting conditions at sea fail to meet minimum legal standards for animal welfare on land, petitioners call for changes in taxation to encourage imports of chilled meat
By Sue Surkes
Illustrative image of an elderly woman lying in a hospital bed. (gorodenkoff, iStock by Getty Images)
July 15, 2026, 11:51 pm
Study: During heatwaves, chronic disease sufferers visit hospitals more, stay longer
Pointing to the need for high staffing and more beds during hot summers, Taub Center research finds that more men and more affluent people rush to hospitals for heat stress
By Sue Surkes
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