Barbara? She Was Already Here in 1979

08 February 2023 12:30 PM
Israel has been hit by the storm "Barbara" throughout the week – resulting in strong winds, rains and snow at the Hermon Mountain. But this isn't the first Barbara that came to Israel during the Tu BiShvat holiday tree planting. The KKL-JNF Photo Archive has revealed the picture of the former First Lady of the United States, Barbara Bush, from her visit to Israel in 1979, in which she is seen planting a tree at the US Independence Park as part of George Bush's Sr. visit to Israel, before he became president.
The park itself is a huge open space of nature and forests, stretching across 120,000 acres in the southwestern part of the Jerusalem forests. KKL-JNF started the park's development in 1976, in celebration of the United States 200th Independence Day, and the abovementioned delegation came to the park three years later.
 
Efrat Sini, Manager of the KKL-JNF Archives: "Like many other prominent figures who visited Israel, Barbara Bush have also made her mark in the Israeli soil by planting a tree at the Jerusalem mountains. Like many other pictures, this one is also preserved in the KKL-JNF archive, which documents 120 years of the country's development."


ברברה בוש נוטעת עץ בפארק עצמאות ארה"ב. צילום: ארכיון צילומי קק"ל
Barbara Bush plants a tree at the US Independence Park. Photograph: KKL-JNF Photo Archive