Former Israeli president Shimon Peres welcomes the parents of slain Jewish teenagers Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel to a ceremony at the Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv. Photo: Sean M. Murphy.

JNS.org – One of the recipients of this year’s Jerusalem Unity Prize — founded in memory of kidnapped and murdered Israeli Jewish teenagers Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frenkel — has been awarded to the Global School Twinning Network, a program of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) initiative.

P2G was created to build connections between students at more than 650 schools in Israel and the Diaspora. The program’s participants engage in educational activities and online interactions.

“The Global School Twinning initiative showcases the very best of Jewish communal life through its efforts to bridge gaps and is proof that the Jewish people remains as united as ever. This is a strength that enables us to overcome any challenge,” said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, the unity prize’s committee chair and one of the prize’s founders following the 2014 Gaza war, along with the Gesher non-profit and the families of the three slain teenagers.

The prize — whose creation was inspired by the unity displayed across the global Jewish community during the period when it was unclear if Hamas had killed the teens or was still holding them captive — will be awarded at an official ceremony in Jerusalem on June 1, which has also been designated by the prize’s creators as “International Unity Day.”

The Global School Twinning Network will receive the unity prize in the “global” category, while additional winners be announced in the “local” and “national” categories.

The Jerusalem Unity Prize will award a total of four recipients amongst local, national and global initiatives.