Knighthood, Israeli Style
Image by Getty Images
Shimon Peres has won so many prizes that he’s ready to start giving his own.
Israel’s president has announced the creation of the President’s Award, a new honor intended to serve as the Israeli equivalent of a British knighthood, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honor. The prize is for individuals and organizations who’ve made “exceptional contributions to the state of Israel or humanity,” as Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot described it last week.
Yediot Aharonot couldn’t help but poke a little fun at the prize, headlining its article “Knights of the Order of Peres.” Israel’s ninth president, who will turn 88 next month, is himself a knight, having received the honor from Queen Elizabeth. He is also a member of the Legion of Honor (not to mention a Nobel Prize winner).
Peres has already assembled a selection committee to confer the award — members include a number of academics, as well as former Israeli President Yitzhak Navon and Meir Shamgar, a former head of the country’s supreme court.
The prize is open to both Israelis and foreigners.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
