White House Hosts Peres at Official Dinner

By JTA June 8, 2012

President Obama will honor Israeli President Shimon Peres with a White House dinner after he awards him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The dinner, to take place on June 13, will have 140 guests, including “former Presidents of the United of States of America, Secretaries of State, Prime Ministers and ministers, senior diplomats and senior figures from the arts, culture and economy in the United States,” according to a statement issued Thursday by Peres’ office.

Peres will spend most of the week in Washington, and will also meet with Leon Panetta, the defense secretary; Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state; and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Obama conferred the 12 of this year’s 13 Medals of Freedom in a ceremony last month at the White House.

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