TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITORS SINCE OCTOBER 2004: 476,186
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY AT THE BEGIN CENTER
A very special event was held this past Thursday in honor of International Women's Day in the Reuben Hecht Auditorium. Major-General Ido Nechushtan, the main speaker of the evening, spoke about his mother, Dvorah, who was a combat fighter and squad leader in the Irgun Zvai Leumi. Maj.-Gen. Nechushtan, Air Force Chief and former head of Operational Planning in the IDF High Command, said that he was always proud to relate the story about how his mother took part in the attack on Lod airport, which was at the time British, and helped to destroy 26 airplanes. This was an extremely important mission because those planes were used to spot clandestine immigration ships. Without these eyes in the sky, more ships would be able to get through. He joked that he is the only air force commander in the world whose mother attacked an airport.
Later, when Dvorah was arrested and tried, she gave a statement to the court, which Nechushtan read during his speech. In it she refers to her sentence of 15 years in prison, saying "I will be here in 15 years, but you [the Court and the British] will not."
Rivkah Miriam read selected poems. Gil Shochat, a pianist and composer, played the piano and Gila Bashari sang. The evening was organized by MK Geula Cohen in cooperation with the Uri Tzvi Greenberg House.
30 YEARS SINCE THE SIGNING OF THE PEACE TREATY
March 26th marks 30 years since the signing of the historic Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. The Begin Center is joining together with Israel's government for two special occasions.
The Begin Center will join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for an event for the Diplomatic Corps and other people who were at the signing of the Peace Treaty in 1979. In addition to the ceremony, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested to set up the "Making Peace" exhibition that had been at the Begin Center. This event is by invitation only and is closed to the public.
The Knesset will hold a special session where the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition and the leaders of the parties will all speak. After the session, Members of Knesset and other VIPs will attend a reception in the hall where the Making Peace Exhibition will be situated. The Speaker of the Knesset will speak. The date of this event is not yet confirmed, but it is also by invitation and closed to the public.
MENACHEM BEGIN IN THE MEDIA
This week Menachem Begin was mentioned twice in the press.
Gideon Levy of Ha'aretz paid Begin a backhanded compliment saying that leaders at the beginning of the State built up the country—paving, irrigating and settling. "Even when Menachem Begin was elected, he took power imbued with the joy of creation: building housing projects, making peace with Egypt, and, as futile as his philosophy was, establishing "many Elon Morehs," that settlement in the West Bank."
The LA Times published a review of a memoir in which the author of the memoir states that Begin deserted the Polish Army in Palestine. Yisrael Medad, Director of Information Services, wrote a letter to correct the facts and his letter was published. Begin, in fact, was given a leave of absence after which he went underground to lead the Irgun Zvai Leumi. By the time the British police and army pressured the Polish Army to rescind the leave of absence, World War II was nearly over.
Links to these articles can be found on our blog website
VISITORS
Aharon Barak, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, will visit the Center this week to give an interview to the archives for the Oral History Project.
Seventy education officers of different units in the IDF came to the Begin Center for the day to participate in leadership workshops and visit the museum.
WE HOPE ALL OUR READERS HAD A VERY HAPPY PURIM!
