Tour in Hevron
Tour in Hevronצילום: ליטל צבע

Im Tirtzu's 'Hevron Project' held its first tour of the city of Hevron Thursday. Im Tirtzu is a pro-Zionist NGO, started by university students in Israel.

About 20 students from Bar Ilan University participated in the tour, which is meant to strengthen the connection of Jews to the city where their forefathers are buried. According to the program's organizers, about 5,000 students come to Hevron each year.

The program is expected to operate at 15 academic institutions and universities which feature Im Tirtzu chapters.

Radical leftist organizations have run their own tours of Hevron in recent years, villifying the Jews living there with the goal of raising international pressure on Israel. Im Tirtzu sees its program as a way to combat this trend.

During the tour, the heads of Im Tirtzu and the students met with Sheikh Abu Khader Jabari, who spoke of the relationship between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, including Hevron.

Adi Levitz, the head of Im Tirtzu's Bar Ilan chapter, said: "students came on the tour alongside adults and retirees. Israelis are fed up with the lies being spread about the city of our forefathers. Tel Romedia in Hevron is full of life, shops, and markets."

"The leftist organizations are not willing to [take tours to] observe it because it would refute their claims of Apartheid and oppression of the Arabs. This tour presents an alternative narrative based on the real truth on the ground, as opposed to the anti-Israel tours in the area."

The international spokesman for the Jewish community of Hevron, Yishai Fleischer,, said that "Hevron and the Cave of the Patriarchs are the roots of the people of Israel and establish the basis for the historic rights of the State of Israel in the region."

"With our cooperation with Im Tirtzu, thousands of students will be exposed to the historical truth and be connected to the foundations of Israel, which are rooted in the soil of Hevron." he said.

"תשובה ניצחת למשכתבי ההיסטוריה"