Education Minister Kisch backs down, to award Israel Prize this year

• Published date: 20 March 2024
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"I chose to change the initial decision and award the Israel prizes in the various categories, alongside the prize in the Revival category," the education minister stated on Wednesday

Kisch said the legal advisers did not back his position regarding the Israel prize in court.

"It is clear to everyone that we do not have the luxury of further unnecessary debates, and the aspiration of every one of us should be for widespread unity," he added.

Israel Prize backlash

In February, Kisch announced that he had eliminated the traditional Israel prize categories and created one category instead: 'civic heroism,' which would be awarded to six recipients.

The decision sparked a severe backlash, with some alleging it was made to avoid granting the prize to Eyal Waldman, co-founder of Mellanox Technologies and staunch critic of the judicial reform legislation that the government pushed before October 7.

Waldman's daughter, Danielle, and her partner, Noam, were killed at the Nova music festival on October 7.

In December, Maariv's Ben Caspit reported...