The Minister of the Interior goes against the list of candidates for this year's award: "It is terrible that when it comes to skills, members of the Eastern community are not there" • Ministry of Education: "The award is given to candidates who were found most deserving of it"
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri
Photo:
Dudu Greenspan
In recent weeks, the names of the winners of the Israel Prize in various fields have been announced, a list of nine winners that angers Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who is furious that there is no representation of the Mizrahi public among the recipients of the prize.
The winners of the prestigious and important award are: Yehuda Meshi Zahav, Dr. Yosef Ciechanover, Prof. Ariela Lebenstein, Michal Bat Adam, Nurit Zarchi, Prof. Yair Zakowitz, Nitza Ben Dov, Prof. Eli Keshet and Prof. Ben-Ami Shiloni.
According to Deri, "once again prizes were awarded and again there are no Spaniards among them, it's a shame."
According to him, the explanation that this is an award given on the basis of skills alone is even more infuriating.
"Surprisingly, whenever we talk about skills, we, the members of the Eastern community, are not there. It's awful. It's time to stop."
This is not the first time that Deri has flooded the ethnic question surrounding the selection of Israel Prize winners.
Also last year, in the vicinity of the Israel Prize ceremony, Deri wrote on his Twitter account that "ten winners of the Israel Prize were chosen for Independence Day, and none of them are Mizrahi or Arab."
He said, "The Israel Prize winners are worthy, but how can no Mizrahi or Arab groom be found to receive the prize in one of the areas of life? Shame and shame. It is a great pity that we have not progressed."
Sources related to the committee claim that in the current award year a new record was set in the history of the award with the winning of four groundbreaking women from different fields.
In addition, more than half of the members of the various award committees were women (16 companies versus 13 members).
According to them, "Three judges of Mizrahi origin were appointed to the Mifal Chaim Prize Committee, out of five who served on this committee, who unanimously chose to award the prize to Yosef Ciechanover and Yehuda Meshi Zahav."
The Ministry of Education responded: "The Israel Prize committees work professionally and independently. They award the prize to candidates who have been found most worthy of receiving it among all the candidates who have been submitted."