A year of struggles ended when Professor Oded Goldreich received the Israel Prize in the field of mathematics and computer science research tonight (Monday), despite the High Court ruling, despite the opposition of two education ministers following his call for a boycott of academic institutions in Judea and Samaria. The Minister of Education decided not to attend, in addition to being a Corona patient.
The ceremony took place in a limited presence after Goldreich announced that he would not be attending the ceremony itself on the upcoming Independence Day. The award was given to him by the director of the Israel Prize in the Ministry of Education, David Felber, and not by the minister who opposed the award after calling for a boycott of Ariel University, saying that “anyone who calls for a boycott of an Israeli academic institution does not deserve the prize.”
However, among those present were many leftists including MK Musi Raz, chairman of the joint list Ayman Odeh and other activists. During the event, he claimed that “I promised not to speak politically,” but did not fail to mention his position regarding the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians. “The story will not be complete without stating the price with who paid with the price for our resurrection. Our moral commitment is to do our best to compensate, so as not to continue to oppress with another, we of course do the exact opposite.”
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ordered by a majority opinion the Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Bitton to act on the recommendation of the Israel Prize Committee, and to award him the Israel Prize for the year 5735. Judge Yael Wilner, who wrote the main ruling, accepted the Attorney General’s position. There was no reason to intervene in the decision of the professional committee to award Prof. Goldreich the prize. Does not express anything regarding Israel’s principled position in relation to those areas.
While Justice Noam Solberg, in a minority opinion, believed that there was no legal reason to intervene in the decision of the Minister of Education. “It is not the role of the court to examine what is the right decision to be made, that is, whether to award the prize or to refrain from awarding it.” According to Solberg, the minister did not deviate from her area of authority, did not err in the interpretation of law, did not withdraw the boundaries of the award committee, did not interfere with her professional judgment, did not act arbitrarily, did not take bias, did not discriminate, and did not consider foreign considerations. “The right to the ‘last word’ is vested in the Minister of Education, and it is not the role of the court to make ‘end-improvements’.”
Judge Solberg noted that even if the Minister had decided to award the prize to Prof. Goldreich, in accordance with the committee’s recommendation, and a petition had been filed not to award the prize, he would have argued that the Minister’s decision should not be interfered with. According to Solberg, since the decision of the Minister of Education was given authority, relevant considerations were considered, there is no reason for judicial intervention.