After it was reported that Minister Yoav Kish wanted to transfer the appointment powers of the National Library to him, the director general of the library, Oren Weinberg, says: “The library received a message from two donors that they are canceling their donation of NIS 80 million
The Director General of the National Library, Oren Weinberg, referred to the intention of the Minister of Education, Yoav Kish, to transfer the authority of appointments in the library to him, and said that “since the news on the subject, the library has received notice from two donors that they are canceling their donation of NIS 80 million.”
“We are very sad. The library is everyone’s story.” He said in an interview with Reshet B, “It actually makes it possible to create an endless mosaic of stories of this country of the Jewish people,” continued Weinberg. “She can only do this if there is no sense that she is politically inclined. It is sad that what will happen now is that a 130-year vision will be damaged. We would be happy for a dialogue and a meeting. To explain the nature of the library and the irreversible damage to future generations as well.”
Minister Yoav Kish. Photo: Dani Shem Tov, spokeswoman for the Knesset.
This week it was announced that Kish is trying to incorporate into the Arrangements Law, as part of the vote on the upcoming budget, an amendment to the National Library Law, according to which the responsibility for appointments in the organization will be in the hands of the minister. According to the publication, Kish’s goal is apparently the removal of the current rector of the library, former state attorney Shai Nitzan.
The National Library stated in response to the publication that “the future of the National Library is in danger” and that there is a fear that “the contributions of the spiritual treasures of the Jewish people to the National Library will be fatally damaged as a result of a change in the law.” The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Library, Sally Meridor, said that “in these days of division and image danger for the State of Israel, the intention to harm such an important consensus, while seriously harming an important national asset of the general public, is puzzling.”