Volume 4, Issue 7
November 28, 2007
Total Number of Visitors Since October 2004: 343,932
The Menachem Begin Prize 2007
The 2007 Menachem Begin Prize will be awarded at a festive ceremony on Tuesday, 11 December, the evening when the 8th candle of Chanukah is lit. The event will take place in the Reuben Hecht Auditorium at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.
This year's prize is being awarded to the Bnei David Pre-Military Academy in Eli, which over the years has produced a number of great heroes of Israel, among them Major Ro'i Klein, who was honored by the Begin Prize Committee in 2006.
This year's personal recognition is extended to the former Chief Justice of Israel's Supreme Court Meir Shamgar, who in his early days was active in the Irgun Zvai Leumi and was exiled by the British to the Gilgil Camp in Kenya together with 250 other such detainees. There in the camp he started his law studies which he completed on the group's return after the creation of the State. Thereafter he rose rapidly in the legal profession to bec ome Chief Justice in 1983. He completed his term in 1995 and has since served on various public and private commissions.
Recognition will also be extended to the Ariel University Center of Samaria which this year had its status established as a University Center and now has 9,000 students from all over the country.
All the bodies concerned will celebrate this achievement with contingents of representatives and members at the ceremony.
The guest speaker will be General Iddo Nehushtan who heads the Planning Directorate of the IDF. He is the son of Ya'acov and the late Devorah Nehushtan. Ya'acov too was a detainee in Gilgil in Kenya.
In addition, the annual distribution of scholarships and other awards to students who are part of the PERACH program will take place.
Exhibition Video Available on the Internet
Many of the poignant moments of the Peace Process between Egypt and Israel were recorded on video. These were combined to make a very moving 6 minute video for the Begin Center's exhibition "No More War". Utilizing the int ernet to spread this message of peace, the video is available on YouTube and on our blog and is accessible to our readers by clicking here or here. We encourage you to pass this video on to all your friends and mailing lists.
Visitors
Mrs. Hannah Evans of Johannesburg, South Africa, sister of Prof. Joe Borman of Jerusalem visited the Begin Center at the beginning of this week. She was most interested in the new exhibition recalling Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in 1977 and was greatly moved by the museum.
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Dr. Thomas O. Hecht, member of the International Board of the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation, and Mrs. Riva Hecht, were in Israel on a visit connected with a conference of BESA, which he founded and heads. BESA is the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. They were the guests of honor at a reception in Jerusalem of the Begin-Sadat Center.
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Mr. Hart Hasten, President of the US Friends of the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation, who was in Israel for two weeks with his wife, Simona, to visit his family, attended numerous functions arranged by the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Before returning to the US, he held policy and programming discussions with Harry Hurwitz and Herzl Makov.
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A group of military personnel visited the Begin Center on Monday and toured the museum. When they concluded their tour, the guide who had taken them through the museum informed Harry Hurwitz that this was a very special group. There was among them a great granddaughter of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Halila, and a grandson of the late Yosef Kr emmerman, who was connected to the family of Ya'acov Meridor. Hurwitz approached the group, especially the above two, and thanked all of them for coming to the Center and the museum.
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