The prestigious 2008 Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to Society and the State of Israel – Israel’s highest civilian honor to organizations and individuals – will be presented to the Jewish Agency on Israel’s 60th Independence Day. “In granting the Israel Prize,” the Committee said of the Jewish Agency “the State of Israel recognizes the organization which helped realize the vision of the return to Zion and the establishment of political sovereignty for the Jewish People in its homeland; an organization which continues – along with Jewish world and the government of Israel -- to contribute daily in shaping Israeli society. Learn more

Thank You to Our Supporters Around the World
We share this honor with the Jewish communities and federations around the world who have made the work of the Jewish Agency possible over the decades, and especially our founding partners, the United Jewish Communities and Federations of North America and Keren Hayesod; and the contribution in more recent years of other Jewish Agency partners, including the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and individual Israeli philanthropists.

About the Israel Prize
The Israel Prize is the most highly regarded award in Israel. It was first awarded in 1953 by the Minister of Education Ben-Tzur Dinor, and has been awarded every year since then on the eve of the Israeli Day of Independence. Each year a group of judges select the awardees. Recipients of the Israel Prize can be individuals or groups that have demonstrated excellence or broken new ground in a certain field. In a nationally televised ceremony, the prize is presented to the recepient before the Knesset, Prime Minister, President, and Supreme Court of Israel.