Half shekel coin
Half shekel coinSpokesmanship

At the initiative of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tzipi Hotovely, the Foreign Ministry will distribute gifts from the City of David to mark the 50th anniversary of the re-unification of Jerusalem.

The gifts are replicas of artifacts found in the City of David excavations representing the millennia-long connection of the Jewish People to Jerusalem.

Diplomats from abroad will receive either a half-shekel coin or a gold pendant with the image of the menorah that was found in the Ophel excavations at the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount. The original was 1,400 years old, the oldest such decoration found.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hotovely stated, “This year, on account of the 50th anniversary of the re-unification of Jerusalem, these gifts will represent the antiquity of Jerusalem. There is a huge fight going on over the narrative of Jerusalem. The Foreign Ministry will give foreign ambassadors and guests from abroad a gift that demonstrates the millennia-old link between the Jewish nation and its land."