Mt. Herzl National Cemetery

Mt. Herzl Cemetery in Jerusalem would be Israel's equivalent to Arlington Nat'l Cemetery in Washington, DC. Many former Israeli leaders and soldiers are buried here. There are also many civilian tragedies remembered. Below is the monument to Theodore Herzl who organized the first Zionist Congress in Basil, Switzerland, in 1897. The cemetery carries his name.

Very similar to Joseph's request to have "his bones" carried to the Promised Land, Theodore Herzl made a request to have "his bones" interred in the revived state of Israel. In 1949, Herzl's 45 year-old request was fulfilled. Joseph's statement was also a commitment that he believed the Promises of God. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob." Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here." Genesis 50:24-25.

So all throughout the 40 years of the children of Israel being in the desert, someone had to be carrying Joseph's coffin. After entering the promised land of Canaan, the Israelites buried Joseph at Shechem where his tomb still is today. Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons. Joshua 24:32.

Placing rocks on monuments or coffins is a Jewish tradition.

This is the entrance to Mt. Herzl Cemetery on Herzl Boulevard in Jerusalem where you can see Herzl's tomb.

Mt. Herzl is beautifully landscaped on a hillside lined with trees, flowers, and walking paths.







A view of west Jerusalem from Mt. Herzl.



I finally found something in English to read, the Monument for the Victims of Terror. At Christian Friends of Israel (CFI), I am currently responsible for visiting the surviving victims of terror and blessing them with shekels sent by Christians from around the world. CFI has visited and comforted terror victims in Israel for many years.

The Terror Victims Monument.

I came to special section and by these photos could tell it was dedicated to those who lost their lives in the 1967 Six Day War.



In the upper left photo below is General Ariel Sharon obviously discussing strategy during the '67 War. In the lower left is Ariel Sharon on the right talking to then Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Of course, this is same Ariel Sharon who has been in a coma for the past years. The coma occurred while Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel shortly after he forcibly evacuated Jews from their homes in Gaza. Once Gaza was 100% Palestinian, they elected Hamas as the ruling party. In the past few years, Hamas has fired over 8000 rockets into southern Israel. The little town of Sderot that we visit weekly has been the target of over 7000 of those rockets.



Since this memorial was written in Hebrew, I could not read it. However, I could make out the date 12-12-1940. This is what I discovered: December 12, 1940: The refugee ship Salvador, after being denied entrance by to Palestine by the British, sinks. 250 Jews, including 75 Children are drowned. They must be buried here.







Teddy Kollek was Mayor of Jerusalem for 28 years and a good friend of David Ben-Gurion. I read once that Teddy loved his city so much that he would get up early and drive the streets on his way to work looking for potholes, road problems, trash, etc. He was his own inspector.

Teddy Kollek's monument. Jerusalem's main football (soccer) stadium is named Teddy Stadium.

Below is the headstone for Golda Meir, Israel's only female Prime Minister who served in the late 60's and early 70's. Golda was Prime Minister during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. When the outcome of the war looked doubtful for Israel, Golda called President Richard Nixon in the middle of the night on his personal phone at the White House to plea for help. Despite warnings from Arab nations of oil embargoes against any country who helped Israel, President Nixon issued the command to help Israel "at all costs". Chances are that would not happen today if America were asked to come to the aid of Israel.

Golda Meir's monument. This is Wikipedia's description of the USA aid to Israel during the Yom Kippur War: Operation Nickel Grass was an overt strategic airlift operation conducted by the United States to deliver weapons and supplies to Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The Military Airlift Command of the U.S. Air Force shipped 22,325 tons of tanks, artillery, ammunition, and supplies in C-141 Starlifter and C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft between Oct 12 and Nov 14, 1973.

Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. He had to have the courage to give the order to strike first at Egypt and their leader, Abdul Nasser, who had blocked Israel's most southern seaport; asked the UN troops to leave the Sinai (which they did); and had been threatening Israel with anniliation for several months. Very much like Iran does today. Some things never change. Two years later, Prime Minister Eshkol died while in office.

Many Israel cities have an Eshkol Boulevard. One of Jerusalem's northern neighborhoods is called Ramat Eshkol.



Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister who shook hands with Yassar Arafat on the White House lawn in 1993. The occasion was signing the Oslo Peace accords which have been a complete and total failure. Giving away "land for peace" was a volatile issue then and still is today. The land of Israel belongs to the Jews. O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, "To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance," Psalm 105:6-11.

Yitzhak Rabin was assinated in November, 1995. That is his monument on the right, his wife Leah's on the left. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. Zechariah 12:3











The sign below directs you to the "sheroteem's". The WC stands for Water Closets. You will find "WC's" all over Israel.