Sheba's Prof. Raphi Walden Awarded the French Legion of Honor

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (right) embraces his friend Prof. Raphi Walden of Sheba at the Legion of Honor award ceremony.

The Republic of France has awarded its highest honor, the Legion of Honor Award, to Prof. Raphael Walden, a Deputy Director of the Sheba Medical Center. Prof. Walden received the prestigious award in recognition of his leadership in the Israeli NGO, Physicians for Human Rights, and for his concrete contribution to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a close friend of Prof. Walden's, personally insisted on bestowing the "Officer of the Legion" award himself, during Kouchner's recent visit to Israel. Kouchner himself was one of the founders of the international NGO, Doctors without Borders.

Pictured from left: Kouchner, Peres, Walden and Beilin.

Mr. Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, participated in the November 18 ceremony which was held at the French ambassador's residence in Jaffa. Prof. Walden is personal physician to Mr. Peres, while Peres is Walden's father-in-law. Former Israeli deputy foreign minister Yossi Beilin was also similarly awarded at the recent ceremony.

Prof. Walden is a vascular surgeon who for years was chief of surgery at Sheba. He is a professor at Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine, and has been a visiting professor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and at Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. He joined Physicians for Human Rights in 1992 and been one of its leaders ever since.

Sheba CEO Prof. Zeev Rotstein said that "We are all tremendously proud of Prof. Walden and thrilled to congratulate him on this most exalted award."