Itay Granek, the Director General of the Ministry of Heritage, spoke on Thursday during the broadcast from the "Planting in Their Memory" Tu B'Shvat event at the burnt-out car lot containing some 1,600 vehicles from the October 7th massacre and spoke about memorializing the massacre through memorial tourism.
Granek spoke about his ministry's heavy responsibility to preserve and document the legacy of the attack for future generations. "We collected and are still collecting all objects from all the affected locations, 20 locations across Israel that were under attack. We work every day with government bodies and field teams, we record stories and are working to create a display with 6,000 testimonies about what happened. At the same time, we are planning this permanent commemoration lot for the burnt cars, since behind every car, there's a story. The process is the move from preservation to storytelling, so no detail is forgotten."
Regarding the growing phenomenon of tourism to the area, he said: "There's nothing like it in the world - 10,000 visitors come to the Gaza envelope every day. Along with the will to return to life, we understand that the memory needs to be preserved, but we don't want to look back, rather look forward, to developing the area and turn into a center of growth, life, and color which will bring millions of visitors who will see and hear about the horrors and pass them on."
Granek concluded: "We have a new generation of heroes, like the fighters of 1948. We will do everything we can for this site to give everyone who comes the strength to continue contributing to our country, for it to be prosperous and flourishing."