"This is about the politicization of the National Library"
: this is how several poets and editors commented this evening (Saturday) against the background of the government's intention to change the National Library Law in the manner expected to allow the Minister of Education to control its management.
Prof. Yigal Schwartz, one of the veteran editors in Israel: "I have a private archive, which includes drafts of 330 books that I edited over the years," he says.
"I have several times received inquiries from abroad with offers to purchase the archive for very large sums, but I am not ready to do that.
There are drafts of books here that will support many doctoral students.
I stay in Israel and the archive stays in Israel, it's not a question at all.
But as soon as there is a feeling that things are subject to the whims of one group or another - things keep crashing.
As soon as I feel that my very cultural belonging within this system is damaged, everything is in question."
Minister of Education Yoav Kish (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The poet Noam Partum says that "Israeli literature is my life. Thanks to writing, I was able to express the pain and the terrible loneliness and the terrible break I was in due to the disintegration of my nuclear and extended family, and I was able to process the trauma and later also understand what fraternal justice is and find correction. Israeli culture is an artery My life and that of all its countless lovers of art in Israel.
"The fear is that Minister Kish will annex the library's board of directors and thus mobilize it for narrow and trending needs only. This is neither democracy nor pluralism. We will not be silent nor will we rest and will fight fiercely in order to avoid that a political and governmental plan, one way or another, subordinates our souls to the needs of an agenda political".
The writer Orna Landau says that she has never signed petitions, "It always seems strange to me, why do we need the writers' petition. But here we are dealing with the politicization of the National Library. No normal institution should be subject to political considerations. I hope that Minister Kish will show business, He will withdraw and give up this decision. The Minister of Education has many important things to do in the country, and maybe he will turn to them."
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