"The President's Award for Volunteerism 2025" was awarded to artist Butina Halabi, a Carmel Medalist 

On Monday (1/9/2025), an exciting ceremony was held at the President's Residence in Jerusalem to award the "President's Award for Volunteerism for the Year 2025." Among the recipients of this year's award in the personalities category, the award was presented to Butaina Halabi, a Druze artist from the Druze village of Dalit al-Karmel on Mount Carmel, who dedicates her life to the commemoration of the Holocaust. This year, the award was presented to individuals who dedicated themselves to social work in a wide variety of fields relevant to the period, and as a sign of hope, solidarity, and faith in man and his people.

The "President's Award for Volunteerism" is a project that has been running since 1974, and was founded during the time of the fourth President of the State of Israel, the late Professor Ephraim Katzir. The project is carried out in cooperation with the President's Office and the Israeli Council for Volunteerism.

At the beginning of the event, President Herzog opened his remarks by saying: "In a time of war, when we are used to hearing quite a bit of shocking news, it is a great pleasure and privilege for Michal Raity and for me to host here an extraordinary team of volunteers, individuals and organizations, of course, who bring us a lot of Israeli satisfaction and pride and are responsible for so much good news."

With your permission, especially in this moving situation, which is all about a supreme mutual guarantee, I would like to open my words with our torn hearts, with longing, anxiety, and longing; and to cry out the cry of our brothers who are in trouble and captivity, at the hands of accursed murderers. The voice of the blood of our sisters and brothers calls to us from beneath the earth, and reminds us of the supreme human, Jewish, and Israeli command to return them to the landscape of their homeland. We, as a nation and as a state, have the duty to repay this sacred debt, to the kidnapped, to their families, and to ourselves. We pray to see them home as soon as possible.

Although we are now in a place whose official name is "The President's House," it is first and foremost the House of the People, and just as the President's House is the House of the People, so too is the "President's Award for Volunteerism," which is actually the "People of Israel Award for Volunteerism." Behind the salute that we salute you today stands an entire people who are so proud of you: in the work of your citizens, organizations, and the tremendous Israeli diversity that is here. And I thank you, thank you on behalf of the entire People of Israel.

All those who receive the President's Volunteer Service Medal today remind us of the zest for life that beats in our people, remind us of what our surplus soul is, of the wonderful Israeli people: a people who, when called upon, are called to the flag, without thinking twice. A people who will never remain indifferent to the plight of others. A people who love their country with every fiber of their being. A people who, throughout history, have known how to cling to our "togetherness," against all odds and all odds.

I thank you, on all the avenues of the people, I thank you and hope that we will be able to learn from you, and I invite you all to be partners in my initiative "Exchanging a Word" to build a shared Israeli future. This is the Israeli spirit that you express. Thank you very much, Aliyah and success."

Buthaina was born and raised in the Druze village of Dalit El Carmel. After graduating from Ort Ronson High School, Buthaina took a training course as a legal secretary at the Haifa College of Management and later studied office systems management and business management. In addition, she completed a course as a certified paramedic and volunteer coordinator. However, she is not currently involved in any of these fields, as something happened in 2007 that caused her to change direction and actually changed her life.

In 2007, Buthaina became strongly connected to the painful subject of the Holocaust. In an interview at the time with "Hai Pe" correspondent Yael Horowitz, she said: "As a member of the Druze community, I knew that six million Jews perished in the Holocaust, but I didn't know anything beyond that. I had never met Holocaust survivors and I didn't know their personal stories. From that day on, I became deeply connected to the subject of the Holocaust. The pictures and stories touched my heart and I felt an inner need to express the terrible pain and the sense of helplessness that I saw on the faces of the victims. From that moment on, I started painting and haven't stopped since."

Druze painter Butaina Halabi has established a large gallery in her home in the village of Dalit El Carmel, where all of her paintings and numerous works are displayed, the vast majority of which are on the subject of the Holocaust. As a member of the Druze community, her story is unusual and her pain, expressed in her paintings, for the subject of the Jewish Holocaust during World War II, is a source of attraction for tourists from Israel and abroad, and a place to understand the question, why is a Druze painter dedicated to the commemoration of the Jewish Holocaust?