While many Israeli students travel to Europe to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust, some are unable to go for economic reasons.
During the traditional school trips to Poland, high school students visit the concentration camps and Jewish ghettos where the Nazis annihilated six million Jews in World War II.
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The trip to Poland is partially subsidized by the Education Ministry. The ministry announced last week that the trips will now be shortened, from eight to five or six days, to reduce costs. In the following video, Ran Melamed from the Yadid organization says the price is still too high for many students.
“About two years ago," Melamed explains, "the price to go [on the trip] was around $1,000. We figured that was too much and demanded that the government either lower the price or subsidize it more. What happened during our fight was that the ministry of education came and decided the price was too low because of several issues, and the price instead of $1,000 was raised to about $2,000. Now the government has reduced the price by $200, which is nothing.” 
Everyone was crowded in the line to the crematoriums… except for Avi, who couldn't afford the tour
"Everyone was crowded in the line to the crematoriums… except for Avi, who couldn't afford the tour."
"On the way to the concentration camp everyone packed the stifling cabin… except for Dima, who couldn't afford the flight."
These are some of the intense slogans used by the Yadid organization demanding that the government subsidize the tour to a greater extent.
“We are demanding,” says Melamed “that no student should have to pay more than $400 or $500, and the rest of it should be a subsidy from the Education Ministry or from donors. We believe that there are other options, such as the option of going together with children from the United States. A combination between two schools, one from the States and one from Israel - we are trying to check this out as well. So we believe our fight is not over yet.”
Former Minister of Education Shulamit Aloni (Meretz party) opposed tours of Israeli youth to the Nazi death camps saying that they breed "nationalistic" and "xenophobic" feelings amongst the youth.