WJC President Ronald S. Lauder Receives France’s Top Distinction
French President Emmanuel Macron today named WJC President Ronald S. Lauder a commander of the Legion of Honor for his service to the world’s communities and the broad vision of peace and culture that he embodies.
“I thank President Macron and the nation of France for this award, one of the highest honors to which anyone can aspire,” said Amb. Lauder.
“France is the cradle of the values of enlightenment, egalitarianism and tolerance that I fight for today, and I cherish this award as a symbol of my ongoing commitment to those ideals.”
In presenting the honor, President Macron cited Lauder’s deep commitment to fighting all forms of hatred and discrimination as well his investment in the education of future generations.
As president of the World Jewish Congress since 2007, Amb. Lauder has passionately advocated on behalf of more than 100 Jewish communities before governments, the United Nations and other international bodies.
He has also served as U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO affairs, as U.S. ambassador to Austria, and has worked to revitalize Jewish life across Europe.
Established by Napoleon Bonaparte to replace the hierarchy of the French nobility with a more merit-based system, the Legion of Honor is France’s highest order of distinction. It now consists of five rankings.
In 2013, former President François Hollande made Amb. Lauder an officer of the Legion of Honor. Commander is the highest civilian category for a non-French citizen; it requires a minimum of five years in the officer rank.
Other recipients include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel; Samuel Pisar, an international lawyer and the stepfather of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld; European Parliament President Simone Veil; and artist Marc Chagall.
About the World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is the international organization representing Jewish communities in more than 100 countries to governments, parliaments and international organizations.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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