High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert F. Kennedy visited the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948, one month before Israel declared its independence. Twenty-two years old at the time, he was reporting on the tense situation in the region for The Boston Post. During his stay, he grew to admire the Jewish inhabitants of the area. He later became a strong supporter of Israel—a factor cited as Sirhan Sirhan`s motivation for assassinating him on the first anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War. Sirhan happened to see a documentary about Kennedy in Palestine in 1948. Later in his murder trial Sirhan Sirhan testified: "...I hoped he will win Presidency until that moment. But when I saw, heard, he was supporting Israel, sir, not in 1968, but he was supporting, it from all the way from its inception in 1948, sir..." According to the Sirhan journal, the entry, in which he said he decided to kill Robert Kennedy was made on June 18. The documentary in question was first shown on June 20. When asked to explain, Sirhan said that he did not recall writing the journal.