Israel owes its “deepest thanks” to President Obama, Israeli President Shimon Peres said, culminating a visit that included receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Obama “did more than he promised, contrary to what has been said, there was no request he didn’t take into consideration,” Peres said Thursday at a reception in his honor at the residence of Ambassador Michael Oren, a day after Obama conferred upon Peres the Medal of Freedom.

It was not the first time that Peres, whose office carries limited powers and is mostly diplomatic in function, has signaled his frustration with tensions between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Peres described Obama as “unique” in his qualification for the presidency.

“He was the tough Harvard editor of the Law Review, who must be precise and strong and unforgiving” and also “the community leader who has all the time for the people, for their mistakes,” Peres said of Obama. “He is the greatest representative of a new age.”

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