Brigitte Zypries, Chairwoman of ELNET’s Advisory Board for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, was awarded the Israeli President’s Medal of Honor by President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on 8 January 2025.
The Medal of Honor awards Brigitte Zypries’ multifaceted work in German-Israeli relations. The initiative for this honor came from the Israeli-German Lawyers’ Association, of which Brigitte Zypries has been President since 2015.
During her time in office as Federal Minister of Justice (2002 to 2009), the Social Democrat was already particularly committed to deepening bilateral relations between Germany and Israel.
Since then, the former Federal Minister of Economics (2017/2018) has also been committed to promoting relations between the two countries in her role as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the German-Israeli Future Forum Foundation. She has been a founding member of the ELNET Advisory Board in 2019 and took over as Chair in 2020.
During the ceremony, President Herzog recognized the commitment of the seven awardees: “The Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor is awarded to outstanding individuals from Israel and around the world who have made outstanding contributions to Israel and the Jewish people. It is an opportunity to pause and appreciate the unimaginable difficulties we have overcome and to recognize the great journey we have made so far, thanks to role models like the men and women we are honoring tonight. And now – more than ever.”
ELNET applauds Brigitte Zypries on this well-deserved award and is deeply privileged to count the long-time Federal Minister among its leading active supporters. The Medal of Honor is the highest civilian award bestowed by the Israeli President. Brigitte Zypries is only the second German to be awarded this medal after Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.
