Great day today.  Although our meeting with the military attache at the US Embassy was cancelled due to the Presidents Day Holiday, we made the best of it by visiting the Ancient city of Jaffa.  Saw the remains of a 13th century Egyptian Fort and the Church of St. Peter where Peter is said to have been visited by an Angel. 

Ancient Egyptian ruins

St. Peter's Church in Jaffa

Inside St. Peter's

Jaffa is mentioned four times in the Hebrew Bible, as one of the cities given to the Hebrew Tribe of Dan , as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for Solomon's Temple, as the place whence the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish and as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for the Second Temple of Jerusalem After the Canaanite and Philistean domination, King David and his son King Solomon conquered Jaffa and used its port to bring the cedars used in the construction of the First Temple from Tyre. The city remained often in Jewish hands even after the split of the Kingdom of Israel.



Mineret from Mosque in Jaffa



After a period of Babylonian occupation, under Persian rule, Jaffa was governed by Phoenicians from Tyre. Then it knew the presence of Alexander the Great's troops and later became a Seleucid Hellenized port until it was taken over by the Maccabean rebels and the refounded Jewish kingdom. During the Roman repression of the Jewish Revolt, Jaffa was captured and burned by Cestius Gallus.  Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv in 1950 creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo.



Had an excellent lunch here



We then visited the Rabin Center which is dedicated to educating people about the extraordinary life of Yitzhak Rabin, former Prime Minister who was killed by an assassin as well as Israeli society in general.  We were blessed not only with a great tour guide but had a special meeting with Dahlia Rabin, Yitzhak Rabin's Daughter.  She spoke on the life of her dad and the current state of Israeli social services.  Fascinating.

Dahlia Rabin

Me and our museum guide