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Israeli President Shimon Peres will award his Presidential Medal of Distinction to a group of seven recipients that includes film director Steven Spielberg and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

Peres’ office said in a statement that it is honoring Spielberg “for his contribution to cinema over the past 50 years and specifically his unique contribution to the memory of the Holocaust, to the State of Israel, to the Jewish people and tikkun olam.”

Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, author and human rights activist, is being honored for his efforts “to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust across the world.” — jns.org