Education Minister Naftali Bennett has been publishing the names of the winners of the 2018 Israel Prize.

Bennett's video announcement that bereaved mother Miriam Peretz is the winner of the Israel Prize for her life’s work of “strengthening the Jewish-Israeli spirit” of the country was unusual in the history of the prestigious prize, no matter how you look at it. The clip shows Bennett showing up at Peretz’ home to inform her before the camera he brought with him that she won the prize. When she burst into tears, Bennett held her and wiped away a tear. It would be hard for viewers to remain indifferent to this very human interaction.

Peretz, a veteran educator, lost two of her sons, Uriel and Eliraz, in military operations. Over the years, she became a symbol of inner strength and mettle. She may have lost two of her boys, but she always remained optimistic, never losing faith or love for her homeland. “You represent the heroism of the Jewish mother,” Bennett told her.

It might have been the first time that an education minister has arrived with a camera to the home of an Israel Prize winner, like they were in a reality show, to inform them personally that they will be receiving the prize. Bennett also introduced a new prize category: strengthening the Jewish-Israeli spirit of the country. It is safe to assume that Peretz, a religious woman who lives in Givat Ze’ev, a Jerusalem neighborhood across the 1967 Green Line, and whose son Eliraz lived in the West Bank settlement of Eli, is politically close to Bennett and shares similar values with him.