3 September 2003 The 2003/2004 school year was formally opened in Israel at the ORT Henry Ronson High School in Ashkelon by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; Minister of Education, Limor Livnat; and Mayor of Ashkelon, Shabtai Tsur. Prime Minister Sharon emphasized the need for high motivation amongst Israeli youth on joining the military and enlisting into top combat units, and was duly impressed by a Bio-Tech presentation. Sharon also mentioned Ashkelons vulnerability as a target for Kassam missiles fired from the Gaza Strip. Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel; Shabtai Tsur, Mayor of Ashkelon (centre) and Zvi Peleg, National Director of ORT Israel at the ceremony Minister Livnat stressed her admiration for ORT Ronsons efforts in the field of technology alongside Jewish heritage projects. Livnat also emphasized student achievement in competitions in fields such as Chemistry, Physics and Computer Studies, in addition to the overall improvement in matriculation results. The ceremony was attended by Amanda Ronson, granddaughter of the late Henry Ronson and daughter of the schools founders, Gerald and Gail Ronson; Zvi Peleg, National Director of ORT Israel; Timora Shiri, Head Teacher of ORT Henry Ronson and other dignitaries. In addition to ORT Henry Ronson, Gerald and Gail have endowed two further ORT schools in Israel; ORT Afridar Ronson, also in Ashkelon and ORT Daliat El Carmel, a school for Druze students in Usefiya. In recognition of their tremendous support for Israel through these projects, the Ronsons are to be honoured at the forthcoming British ORT Annual Dinner in London later this month where Avraham Burg MK, will be guest speaker.