Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) toured the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel on Monday.
He began with a visit to the Yamit Museum in Moshav Dekel, which works to educate and preserve the memory of the community of Yamit in the Sinai Peninsula, which was handed over to Egypt as part of the peace deal signed between the two countries.
"The Yamit Museum has importance in preserving the memory of settlement in the Sinai Peninsula, and we must continue to educate and impart the values of settlement and pioneering to our descendants and to the next generation," said Ariel.
He later arrived in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, where he discussed the challenges of the new families that were recently absorbed and those that will be absorbed in the future.
In addition, the minister visited the synagogue he inaugurated at the end of April 2018, and to which he donated a Torah scroll used by his family during the Holocaust.
Afterwards, the minister met with farmers in the Eshkol region and heard about their work in the field of settlement and agriculture.
"We came to see the pioneers of 2019. I am proud of you. We saw happy people, people who do not cry. People who do, plant, sow and rejoice in their part and help us preserve the country,” he said.