The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that would award Shimon Peres the Congressional Gold Medal, JTA reports. The Israeli president will join the ranks of only nine others to win both the Congressional and Presidential medals, the two highest U.S. civilian honors.
The bill was sponsored by Senators Michael Bennet and Kelly Ayotte in the Senate and Representatives Trent Franks and Joe Kennedy in the House.
Among the other recipients of both awards are Natan Sharansky, Elie Wiesel—who, like Peres, is a Nobel Peace laureate—Simon Wiesenthal, and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Hannah Dreyfus is an editorial intern at Tablet.
