High Court nixes move to deny Israel Prize to professor

Judge in his decision says Prof. Oded Goldreich's case is not unusual enough for government to intervene after former education minister ordered to strip scholar off honor after he called to halt funding for West Bank university

GIlad Morag|
Updated: 08.12.21, 14:52

The High Court of Justice on Thursday decided to unanimously reverse the decision to take away the Israel Prize from a professor who allegedly supported anti-Israel boycott movement, which he denies.

Prof. Oded Goldreich was nominated for this year’s Israel Prize, the country's highest honor, in mathematics and computer science by a panel of judges. Former education minister Yoav Gallant, however, blocked the academic from receiving the Prize after Goldreich called on the EU to halt funding for Ariel University located in the West Bank.

Judge Yitzhak Amit in his verdict accepted the position of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who argued against Galant’s reasoning, adding that Goldreich's case is not exceptional enough to justify intervening in the committee's decision.

Amit added that while there may be exceptional and extreme cases in which it would be unreasonable to ignore harsh statements made by an award nominee in the past, Goldreich's case does not fall within that category.
The judge added the professor has reiterated his disapproval of any movement boycotting Israel, coupled with the fact that some of petitions and public letters he has signed over the past 15 years predate 2011 (when the law was passed that says boycotts cause harm to the State of Israel).

Source : https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hyc8u00zey