Bebe Patten trips to Israel. In 1975, she was named Christian Honoree of the Year by the San Francisco chapter of the Jewish National Fund, and she received several honors and awards from Israel, including the State of Israel Medallion in 1969. She interviewed Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in 1972 and later Prime Minister Menachem Begin. She also had audiences with Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon. In 1975 and 1977, Patten University planted two forests of 10,000 trees in the Negev region of Israel. In 1981, Bar-Ilan University honored her with the Bebe Patten Chair of Social Action and appointed
Gad Yaacobi the Rafi party. When Rafi merged into the Labor Party (which formed part of the alliance known as the Alignment), he was appointed to the party's bureau. In the 1969 election, he was elected to the Knesset, and in 1972 was appointed Deputy Transportation Minister. In 1974 he was appointed Transportation Minister by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a position he held until the 1977 election. In 1984, in the joint Alignment – Likud government, Yaacobi served as Minister of Economy and Planning until 1987, when he was appointed Minister of Communications – a position he held again in the 23rd