Day 7

On Day 7 (Monday), we enjoyed breakfast at the Grand Beach Hotel before setting off. We started off our day at Yitzhak Rabin Square, the largest open city square in Tel Aviv and where Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was tragically assassinated in 1995. Yossi (our Shorashim leader) led us around the square and recalled details of the infamous assassination. After this introduction, we broke into groups (one for each Israeli soldier participant) and interviewed locals around the square about their recollection of the event. We were surprised at how open the locals were and learned a lot from our discussions with them.

After touring the ancient streets of the city of Jaffa, we visited the Independence Museum at the site where David Ben Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel. Here, we learned about the events that resulted in the creation of the State of Israel.

We were all very tired, so we welcomed the long bus ride south to the Negev desert. Along the way we stopped to visit the grave of Ben Gurion, where we learned a bit more about his life and about his desire to "see the Negev bloom". Afterwards we finished the trip to Kibbutz Mashabin, where we had a discussion with an Israeli political speaker and spent the night.