Shopping centre magnate Sir Frank Lowy and prominent lawyer Mark Leibler, AC, have been awarded Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honour, the first Australians to be granted the medal. The award is Israel’s highest civilian honour and eight Jewish and non-Jewish leaders from around the world received the award this year recognising their “extraordinary contribution to the State of Israel or to humanity through their talents, their service, or in any other way”. Lawyer Mark Leibler (left) and businessman Frank Lowy have been awarded Israel’s highest civillian honour.
Other recipients were from the US, France, UK and Germany. Former Israeli president Shimon Peres established the medal in 2012, which has been awarded to fewer than 50 individuals and the vast majority have been Israelis. Past non-Israeli recipients include presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, German chancellor Angela Merkel, Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, director Steven Spielberg and businessman and philanthropist Michael Siegal.
Lowy, is a Czechoslovakian-born Holocaust survivor, who went on to fight in the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 before moving to Australia and founding the Westfield retail empire. Loading He was honoured for his philanthropy, his impact on the ties between Israel an Australia and promoting the well-being of Israeli society in the fields of health, education, and social welfare especially. Leibler is a leading lawyer and Jewish community leader in Australia who has ad.