The cancellation of the Tel Aviv municipality’s planned trips to Jerusalem is more than just a security move, Ammunition Hill historical site representatives revealed Thursday – it is also a financial blow with major political implications. 

Alon Wald, the son of Capt Rami Wald hy”d, who chairs the department of events at the historical site, told Arutz Sheva that the cancellations will have an enormous impact on the site. 

“The site had been upgraded,” Wald explained, noting that the school trips were, in part, supposed to have funded the upkeep for the site. “There were supposed to be at least 1,000 students here every day this week, but the municipality cancelled the trips, and so did the Ramat Gan municipality and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.”

“It’s hard to say it like this, but this is a place that represents something,” he continued. “This site is securely fenced in, and it’s just a half-kilometer from the train station for Ammunition Hill; there is nothing to fear.” 

Wald also explained that the upgrade to the Ammunition Hill museum involved not only physical changes, but a change in tone.

“We are dealing now with a younger generation,” he explained, adding that they “don’t like to deal with bereavement and death.”

“What we are dealing with here now is also instilling the [Zionist] values ​​themselves [into youth] and not just the legacy of the battle,” he said. “We talk about Neve Eitan and Yehuda Kendall, young reservists who came to the hill to fulfill an important mission and join their comrades under siege. We conduct tours through the canals with the students, add adventure games that include ‘capture the flag’ and a treasure hunt.”

A ropes course and other team-building activities have also been added, according to Wald.

Ammunition Hill was the site of one of the fiercest and most significant battles between IDF forces and the Jordanians during the the 1967 Six-Day War.